The full story of HENRY. This story was run from August 8th 2021 to January 26th 2022 and was originally posted on the Clockworksun Stories Discord server.
This story is 79 updates long, plus an epilogue, spread over 266 standard pages with a total of over 85,000 words.
Note that some reaction counts may not be exact, as voters may have changed their reactions between the close of voting and the time this story was scraped from the server.
Note that some reaction counts may not be exact, as voters may have changed their reactions between the close of voting and the time this story was scraped from the server.
Hey all, welcome back to some story writing! I don't have a whole lot to say here just yet, so we'll just go ahead and get started with the choices.
As usual, starting prompts are retired after four times on the docket. The number of times a prompt has been up is listed next to its name, as well as the anticipated length.
(3?) [NOVELLA] Eir Terminus
Science Fiction / Heist
The Future - Space/Kronwaë
Ellie Lynran is a “hunter,” a highly skilled thief/assassin/spy/whatever else for hire. Her job isn’t an easy one, and it’s never predictable, but damn does it pay well. Plus, you meet the most fascinating people. Together with her handler Mel, she’s off to take on another complicated, dangerous contract. What adventures will she get into this time? Well, that depends on how well she can deal with a factor she hasn’t encountered before: another hunter on a competing contract. [This prompt has been significantly rewritten (again) so its number on the docket is a little suspect. If it ages out, I might put it back on.]
(3?) [SHORT STORY] “HENRY”
Puzzle / Mystery
Present Day - A large office building
Getting on the wrong bus by mistake can have consequences, but usually they’re limited to just wasting time or transit fare. This time, our protagonist has ended up in some sort of warped reflection of an office building, surrounded by employees who don’t seem to see anything wrong with the situation. They must figure out some way to escape the office while staying ahead of the many dangers it poses. It may also be a good idea to figure out where that bus went off to... [This prompt has been significantly rewritten so its number on the docket is a little suspect. If it ages out, I might put it back on.]
(3?) [NOVELLA] Eir Terminus
Science Fiction / Heist
The Future - Space/Kronwaë
Ellie Lynran is a “hunter,” a highly skilled thief/assassin/spy/whatever else for hire. Her job isn’t an easy one, and it’s never predictable, but damn does it pay well. Plus, you meet the most fascinating people. Together with her handler Mel, she’s off to take on another complicated, dangerous contract. What adventures will she get into this time? Well, that depends on how well she can deal with a factor she hasn’t encountered before: another hunter on a competing contract. [This prompt has been significantly rewritten (again) so its number on the docket is a little suspect. If it ages out, I might put it back on.]
(3?) [SHORT STORY] “HENRY”
Puzzle / Mystery
Present Day - A large office building
Getting on the wrong bus by mistake can have consequences, but usually they’re limited to just wasting time or transit fare. This time, our protagonist has ended up in some sort of warped reflection of an office building, surrounded by employees who don’t seem to see anything wrong with the situation. They must figure out some way to escape the office while staying ahead of the many dangers it poses. It may also be a good idea to figure out where that bus went off to... [This prompt has been significantly rewritten so its number on the docket is a little suspect. If it ages out, I might put it back on.]
(2) [NOVELLA] The Man in the Maroon Suit
Horror / Mystery
Present Day, the dream world
“I never used to remember my dreams. That changed, a couple of months ago, when I first met Him in a nightmare. Tall, thin, grinning in just the right way to seem totally unhinged. I called him the Devil. I’ve encountered him several times since. Always hunting me while I sleep. I can never wake myself up when he’s too close, and I dread what will happen if he catches me. But that alone isn’t what makes me glance over my shoulder when walking down the street. It’s that I saw him yesterday in real life.”
(1) [NOVEL] First Contact
Intrigue / Politics
The Future - Space/Kronwaë
One day, a sleek starship descends on a remote planet, inhabited but not spacefaring. A being emerges, saying that they are the federation representative of the sector and they need a native to come speak for their planet in front of the galactic senate. Seemingly by chance, our protagonist is chosen to be the first of their species to fly off world. But things are not simple or easy in the federation's core worlds, especially for someone without any knowledge beyond their own planet. Double especially when they start uncovering a scandal of galactic proportions.
(Winner: )
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Alright, let’s figure out what “HENRY” has in store for us, shall we? To start with, we’ll think about our protagonist.
Who is our main character?
- Nathan Pasternack, a recent college graduate desperately trying to get a job in anything other than fast food or retail. Nervous, self-deprecating, observant.
️ - Katherine Merkel, a former helpdesk technician who was laid off after a merger. Probably would have quit soon anyway. Easily upset, has trouble following the rules, good at improvising.
What is our perspective?
1️⃣ - First person.
2️⃣ - Second person.
3️⃣ - Third person limited.
- Third person omniscient.
(Winners: , )
- Nathan Pasternack, a recent college graduate desperately trying to get a job in anything other than fast food or retail. Nervous, self-deprecating, observant.
️ - Katherine Merkel, a former helpdesk technician who was laid off after a merger. Probably would have quit soon anyway. Easily upset, has trouble following the rules, good at improvising.
What is our perspective?
1️⃣ - First person.
2️⃣ - Second person.
3️⃣ - Third person limited.
- Third person omniscient.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Okay, let’s learn a little about Nathan, shall we?
How did he get on the bus?
- He was going to a job interview.
️ - He was going shopping.
️ - He was heading home.
What is his degree in? [You can specify in #story_discussion]
✍️ - Something language or writing-based.
️ - Something engineering-based.
- Something math or analysis-based.
- Something science-based.
- Something creative or art-based.
Will anyone notice if he were to go missing? [You can specify in #story_discussion. All votes will be considered here, not just the winner’s.]
️ - No, probably not.
- Yes, family.
- Yes, friends.
❤️ - Yes, a partner.
(Winners: , ️ > , > ❤️ )
- He was going to a job interview.
️ - He was going shopping.
️ - He was heading home.
What is his degree in? [You can specify in #story_discussion]
✍️ - Something language or writing-based.
️ - Something engineering-based.
- Something math or analysis-based.
- Something science-based.
- Something creative or art-based.
Will anyone notice if he were to go missing? [You can specify in #story_discussion. All votes will be considered here, not just the winner’s.]
️ - No, probably not.
- Yes, family.
- Yes, friends.
❤️ - Yes, a partner.
(Winners: , ️ > , > ❤️ )
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@Story Notifications
So he was heading to a job interview when he got on the wrong bus and ended up here. He’s got some friends and maybe even a partner who will notice what’s going on. And his degree was in some sort of engineering, though apparently he had an interest in art as well. Okay, we’re almost ready to begin. Just tell me one thing first:
Does “HENRY” take place shortly before or shortly after The Factory?
[Allie will not be a major character either way, but this choice will have more than minor impacts on Nathan’s story...]
- Before. Allie Ortiez is uninvolved and the Factory is dormant.
️ - After. Allie Ortiez is associated with the AIB and the Factory is flooded.
(Winner: ️ )
- Before. Allie Ortiez is uninvolved and the Factory is dormant.
️ - After. Allie Ortiez is associated with the AIB and the Factory is flooded.
(Winner: ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 0
“WAAAAIIIITTTT!” Nathan Pasternack shouted, sprinting down the sidewalk towards an idling bus. The doors remained open as he approached and pounded up the steps. “T-thanks, I-” He had to pause to gasp for air as the driver grunted and slid the doors shut, gesturing to the tap reader.
Nathan pressed his transit card against the reader and it beeped green. The driver - a surly, rotund fellow with leathery skin and an exceptional amount of body hair - grunted again and accelerated away from the curb. The rest of the passengers stared into their phones, most ignoring him altogether.
Whew. Totally worth it, Nathan thought, picking his way through the aisle to find an open seat. The buses on this route only hit each stop every fifteen minutes or so, and he only had twenty to make it to his interview. He had gotten delayed by a rash of bad luck this morning: his toaster had caught on fire, his pants had torn, he had forgotten about a road closure that forced a several-block detour, and now he had almost (but not quite) missed the bus that would take him to Korman Enterprises, where he was interviewing with the Director of Technical Sales for a position as a Sales Engineer.
Finally finding a seat, Nathan crammed himself in between a tiny old man who seemed partially asleep and a smartly-dressed young woman who looked as if she could be heading to the very same interview. He awkwardly glanced at her a few times, unsure if he wanted to try asking if she was, but eventually decided against it. No one wanted to talk to strangers on public transit.
He settled down and stared methodically out the opposite window, watching the streets go by. Korman’s building was across the river, so he kept an eye out for the bridge that would signal they were getting close.
Minutes went by with no bridge in sight. No river, either. Nathan frowned. Shouldn’t we have at least hit another stop by now? He looked up, trying to find the route map, schedule, or any piece of information that would reassure him that he was on the right bus. Nothing up there but ads for shoes, housing, and insurance. He glanced at his seat-neighbors again, uncomfortable. The social penalty of talking to a stranger on the bus was incredible, but the cost of missing his interview would be worse. The old man was still asleep, so that left...
Nathan cleared his throat. “Uh, excuse me, miss, but would you happen to know, uh, where this bus is... going?”
She looked up, blinked at him, and removed an earbud. Nathan winced and repeated himself.
“Going? Isn’t this the 84 line? It should be going downtown. Is it not?”
“Uh, I don’t... think so? You see, I thought this was the 17 line. At least, that’s what my stop was.”
“...Huh.” She turned around and looked out the window, narrowing her eyes. “This isn’t downtown. Hey, you, what bus route are we on?”
The old man gasped awake as the woman shook his shoulder. “Eh? What route? 56, of course. To the airport!”
Nathan felt his stomach drop. He got up and headed for the front of the bus. “Hey, driver! What’s going on; where are we going?” Outside, daylight suddenly vanished as the bus entered a tunnel.
The driver glanced back at Nathan in the mirror and grunted. He pointed to a sign hanging over the tap reader: “all sales final.”
“Wh - no, that isn’t what I meant at all! Look, no one on this bus thinks we’re going to the same place. Are you even a real bus driver?”
The driver grunted again. The bus accelerated.
Nathan glanced back at the other passengers. His seatmates had gotten the rest of them awake and alert, and several angry-looking men stood supportively near the front of the crowd. “Look, you... stop this bus. Right now!”
The driver shrugged and grunted, then applied the brakes. The bus began to slow. Outside, lights began to appear. Only a few seconds later, brakes hissed and the floor shuddered as the bus came to a complete stop. Harsh yellow lights glared through the right-hand windows, while there was nothing but blackness out the left. The driver opened the door, grunted, and gestured outside.
Wow, I didn’t think that would actually work. “Uh, okay, you... stay here. Don’t move.” To the passengers behind him, he said, “I’m going to see where we are. I think at least some of us should stay here to make sure he doesn’t try anything.” Then, he descended the stairs.
The bus was parked next to a low curb in a vast underground parking garage. A bank of six elevators, and one flight of stairs, stood only a dozen feet from Nathan. Two harsh yellow streetlights drenched the curb and doors in an island of light. Past that, darkness swallowed the room. Parking spots were visible in the gloom nearby, but beyond that, nothing. The garage could have ended in a hundred feet or ten thousand. The rumble of the bus’s idling engine echoed in the space, but Nathan couldn’t tell how large it was just from that. Pretty big, he guessed.
Several other passengers stepped out of the bus and looked around uneasily. Nathan could see three of the burliest men were still on board, keeping a close watch on the driver. A wet, sort of echoing series of clicks sounded in the darkness beyond the streetlights’ reach.
The woman he had first spoken to approached. “Hey. I’m, uh, Katy.”
“Nathan.” Both of them automatically reached out for a handshake, though neither had much of a grip.
“So, you have any idea what to do now?”
[Choose a group and an action. As usual, you can always specify more details.]
- Everyone.
- A small group.
- Just Nathan.
- Get back on the bus and force the driver to get them out of here.
- Take the elevator. Up, presumably.
↕️ - Take the stairs. Up, presumably.
️ - Venture out into the darkness of the parking garage.
(Winners: , ↕️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 1
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t get a signal in here and I don’t trust the driver. So... maybe let’s just go upstairs and see where we are?”
“Yeah, okay.”
Nathan, Katy, the old man, and two other nearby passengers walked the brief distance to the stairs. After brief introductions, he now knew the old man as Dan, the thin, energetic guy as Damian, and the small woman who seemed ready to fight someone as Jasmin. Hopefully they’d be able to get out of here before too long and he wouldn’t need to know any of them in any more detail.
The stairwell door opened easily enough and the group stepped onto the landing. A sign on the wall marked this floor as “B1,” and flights of concrete stairs proceeded both up and down. Nathan peered over the railing to the floor below, noting that if there were any lights down there, they certainly weren’t on: the stairs sank into gloom as impenetrable as the parking garage.
Up, on the other hand, was at least illuminated. After a brief discussion, Nathan led the group up the stairs to the next landing, predictably labeled as “1.” The stairway continued up, now made of that fake vinyl-tile flooring that had sort of but not quite replaced linoleum in modern buildings. Lights hummed gently and elevators trundled through the walls, but there were no definite sounds of people. The floor 1 exit was a heavy metal fire door with a small window, allowing Nathan to peek through into the room beyond.
“It looks like a lobby,” he said, face pressed up against the glass. “I see a front desk, a few benches and chairs, and... oh, good, doors out to the street! Let’s go!”
With a protesting squeak, the stairway door opened and allowed the group into the lobby. Bland musak played overhead. Katy stopped briefly at the desk, reading “Back in 5 minutes; please use other window” from one station and “Closed; please use other window” from the other.
Nathan stepped up to the glass door leading into a vestibule that opened onto the street. He couldn’t tell exactly where they were - buildings pressed too close for that - but there were regular people and cars just outside, only a dozen feet away. It had certainly been a strange bus ride, but at least it was over now. He pressed on the crash bar to open the door.
Nothing happened. He tried again. Maybe it was just a little finicky.
Nope, still nothing.
“Let me try.” Damian pushed Nathan out of the way and gave the door a shove. It rattled in its frame but stayed firm. Jasmin tried one of the other doors. No result. Even Dan gave a weak push. Nothing. None of the doors would open.
Katy walked up. “Doors locked?” Nods from the others. “That’s got to be illegal. Anyway, I think someone’s actually at the desk. There’s some still-warm coffee and half a bagel. Maybe if we just wait a few minutes, they’ll come back and let us out?”
⌚ - Wait around a few minutes for the desk person to come back.
- Screw that. Break the doors. They’re just glass.
⬇️ - Return to the parking garage.
⬆️ - Go up to floor 2.
(Winner: ⌚ )
- Screw that. Break the doors. They’re just glass.
⬇️ - Return to the parking garage.
⬆️ - Go up to floor 2.
(Winner: ⌚ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 2
While they waited, Nathan pulled out his phone and checked for a signal. Still no bars, not even right next to the doorway. He pressed the phone up against the glass, searching for even the tiniest flicker of data. Either these doors were lined with lead, or the telecom companies had some serious network maintenance to do.
While he was occupied with that, Damian and Jasmin tried to get the attention of someone on the street. Taps on the glass, no matter how hard, failed to produce any effect. Likewise, no one seemed to notice shouting of any volume. A few people glanced in their direction, but only in passing, and no one seemed to focus on the people in the building. Either these doors were very special or every single person on the street was blind and deaf.
Almost four minutes later, an older woman probably in her 60s emerged from a well-hidden door obscured behind a decorative vine-covered lattice. She jumped when she saw the assortment of passengers and hurried forward. “Oh! My goodness, dears, have you been waiting long? I only just stepped out for a few minutes...”
Katy stepped up to the desk ahead of the others. “No, not too long. Would you mind letting us out? The doors are locked...”
The woman blinked. “Let you out? But you only just got here! You must be our next batch of candidates. Hmmm, let me see...”
Nathan put a hand on the desk. “Ma’am, we’re not candidates for anything. Our bus took a wrong turn or something, and now we...” He trailed off as he noticed the woman shaking her head sadly.
“Oh, dears, everyone starts out that way. Even Marco; he’s the driver. I came here on a bus just like you did. Must have been twenty years ago now...”
Nathan felt his stomach start to sink. “Ma’am, we really need to go.”
“I’m sorry, dears. You can’t.” She took a deep breath. “You see-”
Four of the elevators chimed at once and a group of grey-uniformed security guards disembarked. They approached quickly and in perfect lockstep. Something about their pose combined with their low-brimmed caps cast their faces in deep shadow, even though the lighting was definitely good enough that they should have been visible.
The desk attendant closed her eyes. “Those of you who survive, please come find me. My name is LeAnn Tilbury and I can help you.”
Anything else LeAnn might have said was drowned out by the electric crackle of the security guards’ stun batons. Nathan saw his companions fall seconds before his own vision burst with light and he passed out.
...
Nathan slowly swam back into the waking world, groggy and still a little tingly. He vaguely remembered being dragged into the elevator, but nothing past that. A robotic, infuriatingly cheerful voice was speaking. He opened his eyes and tried to listen while picking himself up.
“Congratulations, candidate! You have been selected to be evaluated for employment in one of several exciting departments. All you need to do is follow the provided instructions and complete the assigned tasks. Are you ready to begin? Please press the <BLUE> button if you are ready.”
The room was small - about the size of an average office - and well-lit by a single strip light. A cheap fake-wooden table stood in the middle of the room with an office chair placed invitingly next to it. There were four buttons placed on the table: blue, green, red, and yellow. A sheet of paper was placed beside the buttons, and a cheap ballpoint pen on the other side. There was a door behind him and a window in front, though it was covered by blinds.
Nathan carefully stood up and made his way over to the table, glancing up into the corners of the room to spot a blinking red dome camera and a speaker. The voice spoke again - “Please press the <BLUE> button if you are ready” - but he ignored it for the moment to pick up and read the paper instead.
The stationary was marked with the name “HaneCorp” and a logo that resembled a broken octagon. Scribbled across the paper in wild handwriting was a concerning message: “Don’t trust the voice. Don’t do what it says. Just get out. BRGGY.”
“Please press the <BLUE> button if you are ready.”
Nathan looked up at the camera, then down at the note again. He glanced at the buttons then, wanting to gather as much information as possible before making a decision, rounded the desk and lifted the blinds to look into the next room.
He gasped despite himself. The other room was an office of much the same size as the one Nathan was in, but the man in there was tied to a chair and illuminated by two powerful standing lamps. The man wore a disheveled suit and seemed to be crying, thrashing around but unable to move the chair. He didn’t seem to notice the tiny movement in the blinds as Nathan lowered them again.
“Automatic timeout reached. Please press the <BLUE> button, or else.”
- Press the blue button.
- Press blue, red, green, green, yellow.
- Leave the room. Try to escape.
- Try to get the man’s attention. [Specify what to communicate.]
What is Nathan’s general attitude towards this “interview?”
- Very hostile; highly unlikely to follow instructions.
️ - Not pleased. Disobedient for non-trivial matters.
- Amenable. Will follow instructions except for highly troubling ones.
- Perfect. Will follow all given instructions.
(Winners: , ️ )
- Press the blue button.
- Press blue, red, green, green, yellow.
- Leave the room. Try to escape.
- Try to get the man’s attention. [Specify what to communicate.]
What is Nathan’s general attitude towards this “interview?”
- Very hostile; highly unlikely to follow instructions.
️ - Not pleased. Disobedient for non-trivial matters.
- Amenable. Will follow instructions except for highly troubling ones.
- Perfect. Will follow all given instructions.
(Winners: , ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 3
He pressed the blue button.
“Thank you for pressing the <BLUE> button. You are now ready.” The voice paused for a moment, then continued. “Please sit at the desk in the provided chair.”
Nathan sat at the desk in the provided chair. Comfy, he supposed. The wheels were locked. The blinds raised themselves and he glanced into the next room again, uncomfortable.
“Your co-candidate is located in the other room. Please greet them now.”
“Uh...”
The man in the other room had looked up and was now shouting, still struggling in the chair. The glass was soundproof.
“Good. Please read the instruction sheet provided for you. Familiarize yourself with the functions of the four buttons and read Task 1. Press the <BLUE> button when you are ready.”
Nathan looked around. The only sheet of paper on the desk was the one with the messy writing and the code BRGGY on it. He flipped it over to look on the back. Nothing. Checked under the desk and chair. No papers. Even poked at the carpet to see if anything was loose under there. Nope, no instructions.
“Please press the <BLUE> button.”
“Uh, hey! There’s no instructions here! There’s just this... uh, there’s no instruction sheet!”
“Please press the <BLUE> button.”
The man in the other room somehow managed to move the chair and half-fell forward to bump against the glass. Nathan jumped and looked up. The man was sobbing, his eyes flicking down towards the floor on his side of the window. Nervously, Nathan approached the window and looked down.
Almost a dozen grey, misshapen humanoids scampered across the floor. Most had some terrible deformity and none were any bigger than a foot tall. They all resembled humans, though with the color drained from their skin, and were bloated, wrinkled, crooked, twisted, or otherwise malformed in some way. Most were gathered around the man’s ankles and clawing or biting at him as he frantically tried to kick them away. His socks and lower pants were shredded and Nathan could see deep, bleeding gashes in his legs. The man screamed again and rammed his head into the glass, staring wild-eyed at Nathan.
“Automatic timeout reached. Please disregard any distractions from the interview. Press the <BLUE> button, or else.”
- Press the blue button.
- Press red, green, green, yellow.
- Leave the room; try to escape.
- Leave the room; try to get into the other room to help the man.
(Winner: )
- Press the blue button.
- Press red, green, green, yellow.
- Leave the room; try to escape.
- Leave the room; try to get into the other room to help the man.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 4
Nathan leapt back to the desk and picked up the paper again, rereading it to make sure he got the code right. Red, green, green, yellow. The speaker jumped through several different syllables as he pressed each button, beginning new sentences and cutting itself off. Finally, as he hit the yellow button, there was a rapid-fire burst of reversed speech and then a peal of static. The speaker cut out and the blinking red light on the camera clicked off.
Breathing deeply, Nathan backed up into the center of the room and glanced at the window again. The man was still thrashing around. The code hadn’t helped him. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn’t break the-
“Fuckin’ finally. What are you, slow?”
Nathan yelped and whipped around. Someone in a white button down shirt and black dress pants had opened the door and stepped into the room. They leaned against the doorframe with arms folded, judging him. “Well, come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
“W-wait! What about him?” Nathan gestured to the other room. “And who are you? What’s going on?”
“Always with the questions, you new hires.” They strode into the room lithely, like a stalking lion. Dangerous. “You can call me April.”
“Call... why-?”
“Because that’s my name.” April arrived at the window and peered through. “You want to save this guy? Really? Those copies have already done a number on him.”
“Y-yeah! If you can. He doesn’t deserve that.”
She shrugged. “Your loss. Okay.”
“Wait, my loss? Why-”
April took two steps back, then brought her left hand up to her mouth and did something Nathan couldn’t see. Then, with a powerful leap, she arrowed through the heavy glass and into the next room. Fragments of broken glass sprayed into the air and Nathan ducked down behind the table for shelter. He heard furious chittering, several thumps, a rushing sound like that of a flame, and a few grunts of effort. By the time he got back to his feet and looked over the table again, it was over. None of the little grey creatures were moving. April stood tall, her shirt a little ruffled but otherwise unharmed.
“Heh. Alright, it’s going to take me a bit to get him out of here. You stay put and stay out of trouble. If you’re of any use, we’ll meet again.”
“Wait, you can’t just - hey, come back!”
Within seconds, she had picked up the other man and darted out the opposite door. Silence fell, but only lasted a few seconds before the camera’s light blinked back on and the speaker hummed as it booted back up.
“He - plea - welc - Congratulations, candidate, on your successful interview! You have shown potential in multiple departments, and as a top scorer, we are providing you with a choice! Please press the <BLUE> button for the <ACQUISITIONS> department. Please press the <GREEN> button for the <PROSPECTING> department. Please press the <RED> button for the <OPERATIONS> department. Please press the <YELLOW> button for the <AUXILIARY> department.”
The speaker fell silent. Nathan stared down at the buttons, head spinning from everything that had just happened.
- Acquisitions.
- Prospecting.
- Operations.
- Auxiliary.
(Winner: )
- Acquisitions.
- Prospecting.
- Operations.
- Auxiliary.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 5
Click.
“Congratulations, new hire, on your placement in the <OPERATIONS> department! You will be escorted to your workspace shortly, where you will meet your supervisor. They will provide you with all the information you need to be an effective employee. We hope you enjoy your tenure here with Hane Mining Corporation.”
Immediately, the door opened again and two more grey-uniformed security guards entered. Nathan backed away and tensed up, wary of another shock, but neither guard had their baton out. The one on the left gestured for him to follow. He did. What other choice did he have? How did April get past them without a fight? Did they just... let her in? But why? How? There’s so much I don’t know.
The guards wordlessly led Nathan out of the room and into a twisting maze of off-blue cubicle walls. Some of them were formed properly into relatively normal looking office spaces: three or four walls in a mostly rectangular shape with a desk, computer, and chair, but others zig-zagged here and there without apparent pattern. Many passages were too narrow for humans, though in many cases the labyrinth just led around to the other side anyway. For the most part, the seemingly infinite room was lit by tube lights placed in a consistent grid across the ceiling, but some were broken or missing, throwing entire sections into deep darkness. Thankfully, the guards seemed to be avoiding these areas.
There were other people in the endless office. Most seemed like normal humans, not the robotic, faceless security guards currently escorting him. Many were disheveled, dirty, or injured. Some seemed fine. A few looked up or waved as Nathan passed by, but no one spoke to him. There was indistinct chatter in the background, though, so clearly they would talk to someone. Just not him.
Finally, the guards approached a tall, off-white pillar that reached all the way to the ceiling, unlike the cubicle walls. There was a small clearing around the pillar and a set of shiny metal elevator doors embedded in it. One of the guards pressed the call button and, after a brief delay, all three of them entered the car.
There were twelve buttons in the car, arranged in four rows of three: M, B2, and B1, along with 1-10. The guard selected “4” and the elevator started to ascend. Nathan stared at the panel, confused. Hang on, 1-10 is ten, plus B1, B2, and M. That makes 13. What’s missing? He found it just before the car dinged and the doors opened: floor 8 was gone. No button and not even a spot for it. Interesting.
This new floor seemed much more open and inviting. No crazily-designed cubicle walls everywhere, no missing or broken lights, and no injured, disheveled employees. This looked a lot more like a normal office: dull blue carpet, boring white walls, and long hallways with dozens of normal wooden office doors lining the sides. The elevator had brought them up at the edge of a large hub-like room that formed the nexus for almost a dozen hallways. A long conference table and projector stood in the middle, and several well-dressed people sat in chairs around it, watching the elevator.
The guards shoved Nathan out of the elevator, then selected another floor and vanished from sight. He nervously looked over at the people sitting around the table. “Uh, hi?”
A bald, muscular man stood up and walked forward, looking angry. “Was there anyone else on the way? Just you?”
“N-no? I don’t think so? But actually, there might be more from the bus-”
The man grumbled. “Great. Just typical. Keep wanting us to - and without - okay, sorry, sorry. I was just expecting more than one new hire today. My name’s Mike Nikula, and I’m the Director of Operations here at HMC.”
Nathan accepted the man’s powerful handshake. “I’m Nathan Pasternack, and I’m very confused.”
Mike nodded. “Yep, we all were at one point. I’m afraid I won’t have much good news to share about leaving the building, but you should at least know you’re safe now. Those guards won’t bother you now that you’re an official employee. Now, do you have any experience in IT? Or, what’s your skillset, actually? We can explain what’s going on in more detail once you’re assigned to a team.”
[Nathan does not have experience in IT, based on the pre-story votes. You can determine what parts of his experience he emphasizes, though. Specify in #story_discussion as desired.]
️ - Emphasize engineering (degree).
- Emphasize art (hobby/minor).
- Emphasize customer service (prior jobs).
- Lie. [Specify what to say.]
(Winners: ️ > )
️ - Emphasize engineering (degree).
- Emphasize art (hobby/minor).
- Emphasize customer service (prior jobs).
- Lie. [Specify what to say.]
(Winners: ️ > )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 6
“Well...” I suppose I was planning on interviewing for a job today. Just, well, not the rest of it. “I have a degree in mechanical engineering, and I worked a lot on part design and CAD. For senior design, my team worked on a train car coupling mechanism. B-But I do things outside of my degree too - I’ve been drawing for a while, so I’m creative and precise. A-along with the, y’know, good problem-solving stuff from engineering.”
“Kid, you don’t have to-”
Nathan interrupted. “If you need IT, though, I’m not bad with computers and I’m a fast learner! I-”
“Kid.”
Nathan shut up.
“Like I was saying, you don’t have to sell yourself to us. The building already hired you and assigned you to us. This isn’t an interview; I’m just wanting to see where you’ll fit in so you’ve got the best chance of doing well.” Mike frowned. “Another CAD guy? I can see why they sent you over to us, but honestly we’re a little bit oversaturated in part design right now. Where we really need people is in IT. There were some...” He rubbed his neck. “Losses, recently.”
“I can - wait, what do you mean by ‘losses?’”
“Okay, I’ve made up my mind. We’re going to give you to Carlos to start with, up in IT. He’s been asking for a new field technician for weeks now, so I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to have some help. Plus, you don’t need to have as much expertise to do well in that role.” He nodded, as if reassuring himself. “But don’t think we’re just going to forget about your other foci; next time we get in some folks with tech skills, you’ll be offered the chance to transfer. Sound fair to you?”
“Yeah. But, about those ‘losses?’”
“Great! Okay, Alan, can you take him upstairs to meet Carlos? Introduce them, then get back down here quick, please. Apparently they lost another drill and we’re going to have to make a foundry expedition today to stay on schedule. I’ll need your help to plan.”
A man with buzzed-short sandy hair nodded - “Sure thing” - and gestured for Nathan to follow him back to the elevator. The rest of the people around the table leaned forward and started up the projector. Mutters of “third time this week” and “how long can we keep this up?” were heard before the doors closed behind them.
Alan pressed the fifth floor button. “Don’t worry, Carlos is cool. He’s the only senior sysadmin left after... well...”
“Let me guess, ‘losses?’ Not going to tell me either?”
“I think it’s better if I let him explain. But he’s good at what he does and I’m sure you’ll enjoy working with him.” Alan hesitated. “Well, as much as any of us can enjoy our jobs here.”
“How many people are stuck in this building?”
“Hundreds, at least. I don’t know exactly; it’s not like we have an all-hands meeting where we can count everyone. But I do hope you like the decor, because you’re going to be here a while. Some people have been here for decades.”
“And no one’s been able to get out?” The doors opened and Alan started leading Nathan through a mess of broken electronics and spare parts. Computers, monitors, printers, and more all lay stacked on top of each other in large piles with only a vague sense of organization. The overhead lights were off, but string lights and occasional monitors provided enough dim illumination to see. Fans whirred and hummed.
“Not that I know of. We can see outside through the windows and even the lobby doors, but we’ve never been able to actually escape through them. The doors won’t open and are too strong to break. No one on the street can see or hear us. The windows will open, but it’s a very long way down and every sort of rope or climbing device we throw out just gets cut somehow. Some people have tried climbing anyway - or even just jumping - but they all died.”
“What about the bus? I talked to someone at the desk - uh, Tilbury, I think - who said the driver’s name is Marco. Does that mean he’s trapped here like the rest of us? Why can’t he just drive people out? Or heck, just walk out through the parking garage?”
Ahead, someone grumbled and tossed a clump of wires away. Metal clanked and an entire motherboard followed close behind the wires. “Tried it. Marco’s special; he’s the only guy who can get out, even temporarily. Being the Driver gets you some privileges, but also some restrictions. He’s under close watch by security and I’m sure if he ever tried anything, they’d kill him or sabotage the bus somehow. There’s always one or two guards on the bus when he goes out. And as for walking through the garage? Well... let’s just say there are things out there in the dark. Much, much worse than security.” He sighed. “So, yeah. We’re stuck here. Hey Carlos!”
“Eh?” An unshaven face peered around the monitor and blinked at them. Carlos wore yellow glasses, a wrinkled green shirt, and faded jeans. “It’s not ready yet, Alan. I told you I’d have it done by the end of the day, not 2 PM. Who’s the new kid?”
Alan stepped back a step. “This is Nathan Pasternack. He’s your new field technician. Nathan, Carlos Rabellini, senior system administrator.”
“It’s nice to-”
Carlos interrupted. “Only system administrator, more like! You got the rest of them killed! Heh. But... new field tech? Really? No tricks? No jokes?”
“Nope; no jokes. Nathan here is a new hire; just came in today. I was hoping you’d get him up to speed and get him to work.”
Carlos leaned forward. The yellow glasses seemed to magnify his eyes, though it could have been a trick of the light. “Ha! Alright; get out of here, Alan. I’ll get him something to do.”
“Thanks, Carlos. See you around, Nathan.”
As Alan headed back to the elevator, Carlos rummaged through a series of bins in a large shelf behind him. Nathan looked around as he did so, taking in the tools and parts and wires all over the walls and floor. Everything was lit by non-traditional illumination: monitors, string lights, glow sticks, lanterns; even candles. The occasional lamp stood in wide-open spaces, but none of the overhead lights were on. The floor plan was very open, with wide corridors connecting cavernous rooms and occasional smaller areas. Most of the available floor space was taken up by electrical components of some sort, but there were enough narrow paths worn through the piles to get from A to B.
“Ah! Here we go...” Carlos loaded a blank card into a long machine sitting on a shelf, then whipped around. “Say cheese!”
Nathan barely had time to register what was happening before the phone’s flash went off and the picture was saved. “For your access badge,” he clarified. “You’ll need to get into a lot of places. Now, while that’s printing, let’s talk. Donut?”
“Uh, no, I shouldn’t-”
“C’mon; everybody loves donuts! Fresh from the cafeteria!” Carlos opened the box, revealing a half-dozen seemingly unblemished pastries of various types. “Sugar’ll do you good.”
I did miss lunch, actually... “Oh... okay.” He chose one without filling, though.
“Now,” Carlos began, carefully selecting one of his own. “I’m just gonna give you the overview here, k? Alan must have said some stuff. Alright, so you’re now an employee of Hane Mining Corporation, HaneCorp, HMC, or whatever you wanna call it. Congrats! But you also can’t leave this building ever again. Not congrats. But hopefully things won’t be so bad.
“HaneCorp’s main business is mining, as you might guess. There’s a huge mine down under the parking garage where we dig up ore and stuff, process it, and ship it out. That’s the big gist. More ore going out means more profit for the company means better lives for us employees. Right?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Great. Now, there are four departments workin’ on this. Prospectin’ is where the smart people live: they do real fancy math to determine where we should dig and help inform decisions that our department, Operations, makes. Ops handles the actual mining, as well as infrastructure of all kinds. Physical and digital. And our job here in IT is to keep that digital infrastructure running as smooth as can be. It’s... not doing that great right now. Being the solo IT guy, it isn’t really possible to keep up with everything. So that’s why you’re here!
“But anyway, the other two departments. There’s, uhm... oh, yeah, Acquisitions. They handle imports and exports of supplies and product, plus HR.” His voice lowered for a moment. “That includes the bus driver. Ahem. Anyway, last one is Auxiliary. They’re the ‘misc’ department. Maintenance, janitors, catering, desk staff, you get the idea. The general flow looks like this: Prospecting finds the ore, Operations gets the ore, Acquisitions exports the ore, and Auxiliary supports everyone else. You keeping up?”
“Uh - uh huh.”
“Okay, now let me get to some of the more dangerous parts. This building isn’t normal, as I’m sure you’ve realized by now. The security guards aren’t human, and they aren’t the only monsters around here. The guards are usually on our side, but most everything else isn’t. The lower you go, the more dangerous creatures you’ll find, and down in the mines it can get almost like a warzone at times. So: since you’ll be running all over the building as my field tech, let me give you this rule of thumb. If you get a bad feeling about something - or someone - get out. Most dangerous critters are pretty obviously nonhuman, but some... aren’t. Don’t be a hero, okay? If you get in trouble, run or hide. Live to fight another day. Go find some guards if you can; they hate the monsters just like we do. Usually.”
Carlos’ gaze softened, just a little. “I know this whole thing is scary and overwhelming. I just don’t want you to go out there and not know the dangers. Most of the time, especially close to the elevators, you’re safe. Just... there’s always a risk, and I don’t want you to get yourself killed because you didn’t know.”
The card printer beeped and Carlos got up to check on it. “Finish your donut and ask your questions. Then, we’ll get to work.”
[You may suggest additional lines of questioning in #story_discussion (and you should! Not all critical intel is listed in the built-in choices). This vote is not FPTP.]
- What happened to the other IT staff?
- Imports? Exports? How do those work?
️ - Do we just sleep in the office? Showers? Food? How do we live in an office building?
- How does “more profit” lead to “better lives for employees?” Aren’t we trapped here? We’re not getting paid, right?
- Why work? Why risk all this danger? Who’s directing all this?
️ - How does IT work without internet? How do we get software and stuff? There's no internet here, right?
(Winners: basically everything except )
- What happened to the other IT staff?
- Imports? Exports? How do those work?
️ - Do we just sleep in the office? Showers? Food? How do we live in an office building?
- How does “more profit” lead to “better lives for employees?” Aren’t we trapped here? We’re not getting paid, right?
- Why work? Why risk all this danger? Who’s directing all this?
️ - How does IT work without internet? How do we get software and stuff? There's no internet here, right?
(Winners: basically everything except )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 7
“Since you were talking about all the dangers... why are you the only one left? What happened to all the other IT staff? All Alan would say is that there were some ‘losses.’”
Carlos snapped a clip onto the badge and handed it to Nathan. “About a month ago - maybe two? Dunno - Anyway, Dan, my former boss, had an idea to get a message out to the outside world. Tell people what’s going on, maybe get some help. He’d worked out a way to take over one of the core routers downstairs that normally stop us from talking out. So he went up the chain and actually got the mission approved. An expedition went out and, as you might have guessed, everyone got killed by the monsters down there guarding the datacenter.”
“Oh. I’m sorr-”
“I’m not done. That wasn’t the whole team. No, what finished us off was the next day, when I just happened to be out in the field working on a cabling job. During the morning meeting, security swept through the entire department and grabbed everyone in IT. The whole team, just dragged into the elevators. Never saw any of them again. I’m sure if I had been here, I’d be gone too. Heh. Learned our lesson there. Don’t mess with the goddamn core routers again.”
“...”
“Go ahead, kid. You don’t have to say anything; it’s all behind us now. Nothin’ I can do to bring ‘em back. Just ask your next question.”
“...Well, I was going to ask how IT even worked without internet. If you can’t talk to the outside world, how does this ‘company’ even run?”
“We can talk out. Sorta. There’s a firewall that filters out everything that isn’t what it deems ‘legitimate business communication.’ People have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the filters work and how to get around them, but no one’s succeeded yet. If anyone gets too deep into it, security pays them a little visit. We can’t talk to friends or family; just clients and vendors.”
He sighed. “It’s the same with imports and exports. Supply trucks can get in and export trucks can get out, but try to use a truck to get a person out and it just won’t move until they’re gone. We’ve tried being sneaky, we’ve tried just staying there for hours or days; we’ve even tried blowing a hole in the cab to get out that way. Nothing works, and trying anything too exciting means a visit from security.”
“So that’s why everyone here works at all, instead of trying to get out or even just sitting around? Security?”
“Yep, that’s it. There is a CEO, or at least we think there is. No one’s actually seen the guy, but if you ever hear anyone talking about ‘Henry,’ that’s him. Henry Hane, just like the company name. His office is on the ninth floor, but no one’s allowed in except the guards. Honestly, I’m not convinced he’s real. Anyway, quotas come down from there and we have to meet them. If we do, everything’s fine. If we do better, we get little bonuses. Better supplies, more lenient guards, maybe a pizza party. If we do worse, well...”
“A visit from security?”
Carlos chuckled. “Now you’re getting it. We’ve got a real love-hate relationship with those fuckers. On the one hand, they defend us from all the monsters. But on the other, they keep us trapped here and punish us for not working.”
Nathan nodded slowly. “I bet. Hey, is there like a sink or something to wash my hands? Actually, how do we live in an office building? Are there showers? Where does the food come from?”
“There’s a bathroom just down the hall. And, yes, the building has everything you need to survive. Most of the bathrooms have showers built in and food comes in on the import trucks. Someone in Acquisitions has to factor that into the budget - it doesn’t just magically appear or anything - so that’s another reason to keep working. If we can’t export enough ore to pay for food, clothes, and other supplies, that’s not good. And most people just sleep in their office. You can claim pretty much any corner or little room you want on this floor and set up a bed. That’s one upside to it just being the two of us; you’ve got lots of room to spread out.”
“Thanks. I’m... going to go wash my hands.”
“Alrighty. Come on back once you’re ready and I’ll get you some tools and a bed or something.”
Nathan made it into the bathroom before he stumbled and almost fell against the sink basin, lightheaded and dizzy. He turned on the faucet and splashed water into his face. You’re okay. This will... I don’t know. I don’t know! What WILL this be? What am I going to do, just work here for the rest of my life? Never see my friends and family again? Never see Ami again? There’s got to be a way out of here, right? Somehow?
He glanced at himself in the mirror. He still looked totally normal, just a little nauseous. Could have just been from skipping lunch in favor of a donut. That made him feel a little better. Like maybe he wasn’t panicking.
According to Carlos, everything I need to survive is here. If I stay away from the monsters, I’ll be safe. This isn’t a death sentence. It’s just a setback. I just need to wait long enough to figure out how to get out... Wait, April! She was talking about “getting me out of here” - did she mean the room, or the whole building? And the guards didn’t stop her, even though she interrupted the interview! She’s a lead. Got to be. If I can find her...
- Ask Carlos about April.
- Don’t tell anyone about April.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 8
Soon. He’d have to get used to the job first. Fit in, figure out how things worked. Then he could go looking for her. Right now, he wouldn’t even know where to start.
“Alright, you got all that? Repeat it to me, just to be sure.”
Nathan glanced down at the pile of electronic equipment on his cart to refresh his memory. “3118, Katy Merkel. Route on my phone. Replace the tower, keyboard, and mouse, add two monitors, hook up all the cables again, then come back.”
“And if you have any problems?”
He held up his phone. “I can call you as needed.”
“Right. Remember, call, don’t text. I’m going to be under desks and stuff; I want to make sure I notice.” Carlos tapped the elevator call button, then returned to his own cart. “Good luck.”
The older man went up; Nathan went down. He stepped out of the elevator back into the twisting warren of off-blue cubicle walls that he had just emerged from two hours ago. He felt conspicuous with his shoulder bag of tools and cart full of computer parts, but the employees of the third floor actually seemed much more accepting now. Maybe it had been the guards last time, not Nathan himself, that they had had problems with. He tapped at his phone to bring up the route he was to take, oriented himself against the elevator doors, and set off.
As he walked, nodding politely to nearby staff, he listened. Snippets of conversation drifted past. “-hear another nest of jams was found just near the doors? We’re trying to get security to-” “-lost our bulk discount with them due to some stupid policy changes. I’m working on finding a new supplier, because-” “-look this over for me? Mostly asking about the pipeline configuration; upstairs seems to think-”
He was only a few minutes away when he emerged from a corridor into a much larger open space. The cart clattered over uneven flooring and Nathan looked down; it seemed that there had originally been cubicle walls here too, but they had been cut and sanded down to open up the space. A much larger freight-style elevator crouched at the far end of the “room” and several dozen people stood around the area strapping on helmets and combat gear.
He stopped for a moment to observe. Someone near the front was talking. “We’re going to be heading down to B2 today and reinforcing the Foundry 3 team as they cast a new drill for the boys down in the mines. Expect combat, likely primarily copies, jams, and shredded. Make sure you’ve got a flamer and stick with your buddy at all times. We’re hoping to be in and out in less than two hours. Any questions?”
Nathan continued on before any questions could arise, nonplussed. He supposed Carlos had mentioned it was like a warzone down in the mines. Well, hopefully he wouldn’t have to go down there. Probably not too much IT work in a mine, anyway. Almost there.
“Nathan! You’re okay!”
He spun around to see the same Katy from the bus emerging from a side passage. She was scraped up and covered in adhesive bandages, but was holding a mug of something and seemed otherwise mostly intact. “Wait, are you Katy Merkel? I - y’know, that makes sense. I probably should have guessed that.”
“Are you looking for me specifically? Nathan, do you know what’s going on? Did you have to fight one of those paper things too?”
“Paper things? N-no, I just-” He made the quick decision not to reveal April’s involvement. Something told him it wouldn’t be smart. “Just had to answer a few questions. They put me in IT; I’m supposed to deliver your computer.”
“Man, you got lucky.” Katy said, rubbing her arms and walking with him. “When I woke up, I was just in a room with a shredder. Someone on the speaker said I had to survive, then a bunch of paper exploded out of the shredder and attacked me. Have you ever gotten 300 paper cuts at once?”
Nathan shuddered, starting to unplug the current tower. “Can’t say I have. But that sounds really awful.”
“It was. I ended up triggering the sprinkler system. Once it got wet, it just fell apart and stopped moving. Still feel a little woozy after all that. Probably the blood loss.”
“How are you being so calm about this? We’re in an impossible office building filled with people who just seem to accept that we’re never going to escape. We’re surrounded by dangerous monsters and non-human security guards. We can’t even contact the outside world to tell anyone what’s going on! And... and you’re just okay with this?”
“Of course I’m not okay with it! But what do you want me to do, go cry in a corner? Try to escape and get zapped by the guards again? If these hundreds of people haven’t been able to find a way out over decades of trying, what makes you think we can do anything except make the best of it?”
The new computer beeped and powered up. Nathan started on the monitors. “I just... don’t want to give up so easily.”
She sat down and put a hand to her head. “I get that. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
A few minutes passed as Katy sipped at what smelled like apple cider and Nathan finished up the wiring. He toggled on both monitors and watched as the screens came to life. “There you go; good as new. You want to try logging in? Did they give you an account?”
“Yeah. Here, hang on.” She rolled up and typed something in before frowning. “It says ‘no network connection.’”
“But I plugged the same cable back in!” Nathan double-checked the cords to make sure everything was seated, but it all looked right to him. The thin grey cable disappeared under the cubicle wall. Well, he did say if I had ANY problems...
Nathan grabbed his phone and called Carlos. It rang twice before he picked up. “Issues already? What’s going on?”
“It’s saying it doesn’t have a network connection, but I promise the cable is plugged in properly. I just took it out of the old one and plugged it into the new one!”
“Hmm... Are there blinking lights on the back of the computer where it’s plugged in?”
He checked. “No.”
“Bad cable, then. See if you can trace it back to the wall. You should have a spool on your cart that you can use to replace it. If you can’t figure it out or don’t have enough, give me a call back. Okay?”
“Got it.”
Nathan put down the phone and knelt on the floor, trying to trace the grey cable under the low cubicle walls. Katy leaned down, watching. “Having fun?”
“Carlos says the cable’s bad. I need to trace it back to the wall to replace it. Do you know where this plugs in?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s just over this way. Come on.”
He picked up the replacement spool and followed Katy down a series of narrow corridors. They must have gone almost a hundred feet zig-zagging between cubicle walls before she suddenly crouched, gesturing for Nathan to get down as well. He knelt and peered over her shoulder.
In the next room, the walls opened up a bit. A pile of little network switches aggregated cables from dozens of computers, routing them all into the wall through a large jack panel built into a pillar. That was all the normal part. The concerning part was the black stain on the floor, seemingly from toner powder, and a flickering, half-broken printer lying on its side in the middle of it. “That wasn’t there before,” she muttered.
As they watched, the printer whirred and clunked. A cloud of toner sprayed out as its mechanisms ground against each other. Then, with a heaving sound of straining plastic, a little grey humanoid wrenched its way out of the printer, its legs mangled almost beyond recognition. Nathan’s eyes widened as it chittered. This was one of the things April had referred to as a ‘copy.’ One of the things that had torn apart that man’s legs. One of those things that - “It’s chewing on the cables!” he whispered angrily. “Oh, come on!”
- Go in, punt the little beast, and shut off the printer. Two against one. Easy.
️ - Run in, turn off the printer, and run out. Like spraying a hornet nest. Deal with the copy later.
- Call Carlos again and ask him to deal with this.
(Winner: )
- Go in, punt the little beast, and shut off the printer. Two against one. Easy.
️ - Run in, turn off the printer, and run out. Like spraying a hornet nest. Deal with the copy later.
- Call Carlos again and ask him to deal with this.
(Winner: )
2
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9
@Story Notifications
Scene 9
“Carlos? I traced the cable back to the wall, but there’s a printer on the floor that keeps spitting out little grey things that I think are called copies? They’re chewing on the cables.”
“Oh, good! You found a nest on your very first job. How... lucky.”
“Somehow, I don’t feel very lucky. I saw what those things can do to someone.” Another copy wrestled its way out of the printer and started gnawing on the casing of one of the switches. “They’re eating the switches too,” he whispered.
“Hungry little suckers, aren’t they? Copies aren’t too dangerous on their own, but they can be bad news in numbers or if they’ve had a chance to mutate. They can grow and change forms by eating stuff, so that’s their favorite thing to do. If there’s only one or two and you’re feeling confident, I think it’d be okay to just go in and beat them up, especially if you have someone else with you.”
“Katy left to get help. I only see two, but...”
“Alright, your next option would be to find a security guard. Those things hate copies and would be more than happy to take out the nest for you. Just need to be careful on how long it takes. Copy infestations grow really quickly and can get hard to deal with if they’ve had a chance to eat and mutate.”
“Okay, I think that’s where she’s going. Maybe I’ll stay here and keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.”
“Sure, kid. Just stay out of sight.”
“Carlos, where did this printer come from? Katy said it hadn’t been here before.”
“Beats me. They just sort of show up sometimes, especially in the lower levels. At least this one’s only printing copies. Some printers can pump out nastier monsters, but for the most part we don’t see those above ground. That’s where most of the creatures come from, by the way: printers. There’s a reason we went digital everything. Oop, gotta go. Good luck, kid. Don’t get killed.” He hung up.
The first copy Nathan had seen suddenly pounced on the second one, ripping its head off and gulping down the whole body in a matter of seconds. He watched, concerned, as the thing’s shape rippled and expanded. With its new larger mouth, it had little trouble tearing several switches from the pile and gobbling them down as well, shaking and growing as several blinking lights and malformed Ethernet ports appeared on its skin. It started slurping down the connected cables like spaghetti, beginning to grow dangling cords from the ports on its skin.
Heavy footsteps sounded behind him and Nathan spun around, ducking out of the way of one of the faceless, grey-uniformed security guards. It had its stun baton out and marched straight into the room, making directly for the copy on the floor. Katy arrived a moment later, looking pale and kneeling next to Nathan to catch her breath.
The copy saw it coming and darted back, out of the baton’s range. It then tensed up, shooting cables out of its skin in all directions. Several hooked into the walls, but most were aimed at the guard. Barbed Ethernet connectors speared into its clothes and skin, but it didn’t falter. Many of the cables failed to make it through the uniform, but even those that did seemed to hardly injure it. The copy contracted, now suspended in midair by all its cables, and sent a jolt of crackling electricity surging through the cords.
The guard, unaffected, smashed it with its baton. The copy fell to the ground, squeaking, as the guard pummeled it again and again until the creature burst open and spilled a core of black toner onto the carpet. Its grey flesh melted away quickly, leaving only a stain behind. The guard then knelt and pulled the printer’s power cord before opening a door in the side and extracting the toner cartridge. It held this up to its head and snapped it in half, inhaling loudly (though through what, Nathan couldn’t tell) and sucking in a mass of toner.
The remaining Ethernet barbs popped out of the guard and its skin smoothly flowed to reseal itself, good as new. It scanned the room in a final once-over, turned to Katy and Nathan to give a wordless salute, then marched silently away.
“... Woah. Maybe I do like the guards after all.”
“You’re telling me,” Katy agreed.
[In either case, Nathan will remain the protagonist. Being Amity will only introduce a brief, shall we say, intermission in Nathan’s adventure.]
- Keep being Nathan Pasternack.
- Be Amity Bowman instead.
(Winner: )
- Keep being Nathan Pasternack.
- Be Amity Bowman instead.
(Winner: )
1
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@Story Notifications
Scene 10
Amity Bowman glared at the phone. “So you’re telling me that you haven’t heard from him either, for several hours, and you don’t find anything concerning about that?”
“Dude, chill. He’s probably just busy or something. Maybe the interview ran long.”
“Three hours long?! He was supposed to meet you afterwards!”
She could almost hear the shrug. “Don’t know what to tell ya. He’s not here.”
“Yes, right. You already said that.” Ami sighed. “Fine. I can tell you’re not interested in being helpful. I’ll just figure it out on my own.”
She was interrupted before she could end the call. “Look, I know you can be sensitive about this kind of thing because of your sister, but-”
Ami hung up. That motherfucker. She had never liked Jake. And this isn’t about Sam. I can just be worried normally without having to - UGH! He had just texted her.
“hey i’ll keep an eye out but i still think you’re paranoid. he’ll show up soon. bet your sis will too ;p”
She didn’t respond and just placed her phone on the table before she threw it across the room. Fucking asshole. Yeah, I’m sure Sam will come back after being missing for SIX YEARS. I don’t know how you conned Nathan into hanging out with you.
Ami sighed again before springing back to her feet and grabbing her phone again. No time for getting mad at Jake; she had to figure out what happened to Nathan before it was too late. Quietly, she wondered if maybe she was just being the crazy, overprotective girlfriend that some people clearly thought. No, Nathan wouldn’t leave me hanging like that. He promised to call after the interview. Something’s wrong.
“Korman Enterprises, Lucille speaking.”
“Hi Lucille, I’m Ami and I wanted to ask if Nathan Pasternack ever showed up to his interview today?”
“Huh? You want to know if some guy was interviewed today?”
Stay calm... “Yes, that’s what I said. He was supposed to interview with the Director of Technical Sales? I just want to know if he showed up.”
“Ah, whatever. Okay, hang on.” The phone clicked over to a tinny rendition of some tropical hold music. Ami grimaced and turned down the volume, drumming her fingers on the table as she stared into the wood. Patience was not her strong suit.
Several irritating minutes later, the music clicked off. “Eh, hello? You still there?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, I asked around and it looks like he never showed up. Need anything else?”
“Never showed up at all? Like, no one saw him?”
“That’s right. No show. Didn’t enter the building. All set?”
“Yes, thanks. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Great.” Lucille hung up.
Ami stood up again, walking to the door to get her keys but not really sure where she was going. “So he disappeared somewhere between here and the Korman building,” she thought aloud. “That just leaves a few blocks to walk, plus the bus ride. Maybe half an hour total.” Hardly any time to go missing, and hardly any space to do it in. Maybe she could go to the transit authority and see if he had gotten on a bus. Would they even give her that information? Maybe... maybe it was time to go to the police. She had narrowed it down pretty significantly already, and they always told you to never wait with missing person cases. But, well, Ami had never had great experiences with the cops. She was reluctant to get them involved.
Maybe...
There was someone else. Back when Sam had gone missing, the police had done their whole investigation and determined that she had simply crashed her car into the river and been washed away. Bullshit, she grumbled to herself. A few months afterwards, one of her classmates had disappeared as well. However, unlike Sam, Allie had come back. The whole thing had been covered up and strictly classified, but Ami had never exactly cared for the rules.
Allie had never told her where she had gone, no matter how much Ami pressed. But she hadn’t been able to keep everything from her.
“...She’s dead. I’m really sorry, and I can’t tell you how I know. But I do know.” Allie had looked away, her voice low. “I really, really wish I could explain everything. I know how hard this is for you. But... I can’t.”
Ami had shuffled closer, feeling her eyes get hot. “You can’t just leave it at that,” she whispered. “How? Why? What happened to you both?”
“I’m so sorry. I hope this at least... gives you closure?”
“This isn’t closure! You’re not telling me anything!” She had been furious, daring to hope that Allie would reveal the truth and feeling almost betrayed when she hadn’t. “She’s my SISTER! You HAVE to tell me!”
Allie had backed away, looking nervous. “I already told you that I can’t. I want to. I desperately want you to know. I just - I can’t.”
“Why can’t you?!”
She had glanced down, lips pressed together. “The whole thing is classified.”
Ami had punched her in the jaw, then run away crying. Not her finest moment. Allie had forgiven her the next day, waving away the bandage on her cheek. They hadn’t become friends - Allie reminded Ami too much of what had happened to Sam - but they had at least kept vaguely in contact.
It had been years since then. There was no guarantee Nathan’s disappearance was even related. Allie might not want to help. But at least she wasn’t a cop.
[These options aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but will generally be attempted in order of votes. Specify in #story_discussion as desired.]
- Ask around the transit authority. Try to get more details.
- Call the cops. It’s the correct thing to do.
- Ask Allie for help.
(Winner: a tie between and )
- Ask around the transit authority. Try to get more details.
- Call the cops. It’s the correct thing to do.
- Ask Allie for help.
(Winner: a tie between and )
7
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@Story Notifications
Scene 11
Ami scrolled through her phone contacts until she reached Allie, reading through their last conversation. It had been just over a year ago, when Allie had gone on a business trip and Ami had watched her cat for a week. A handful of texts on care and feeding instructions, then a “thanks again ami!” afterwards. Nothing since. Welp, this is going to be awkward. She shrugged. Oh well.
“Hey Allie, I know it’s been a while but I need your help. It’s about Sam (I think?) and you kind of owe me for still keeping it secret. If you’re still in town we should meet up, it’s too complicated to explain over text”
She sent the message, then added “If not, phone works too I guess” after a brief consideration.
There was no immediate response, so Ami decided to do some investigating on her own while waiting. She slipped on a pair of sunglasses to help deal with the glare and headed out into the city.
“Ma’am, are you really allowed to be in here?”
“Yeah, I asked the guy out front. Now please just tell me if he got on a bus today, okay?”
The transit worker looked up at her, expression somewhere between nervous and confused. “And you want to know this... why? Are you like, a stalker or somethin’?”
“What? No! And I wouldn’t tell you if I was, anyway!”
“Fair point.” The guy shrugged, tapping at the keyboard.
“No, I’m just trying to figure out why my boyfriend seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth after getting onto one of your buses.”
“... Have you called the police, lady?”
“Look, if you get me the info I asked for, I’ll go away. No more questions.” She nonchalantly placed a hand on the man’s desk and loomed over his shoulder. “Okay?”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Gimme a minute...”
Ami stepped back, smiling briefly. Nathan didn’t like it when she did stuff like this. He said she was being mean. Well, he wasn’t here right now and she’d be as mean as she had to be in order to figure out where he went. Her phone vibrated and she glanced down; just another email from work. Ugh. No Nathan; no Allie. At least it wasn’t Jake.
“Uh, ma’am? Did I spell his name right?”
She leaned down. “Yep, that’s it.”
“Well, there’s nothing for him in the system today. A few rides yesterday, but not a single tap today. Is that all you needed?”
So, he didn’t make it onto the bus. Has to have been between the apartment and the bus stop, then. “Do you guys have cameras at the bus stops? Can we look at the footage for 7th & Elm between, like, 8:30 to 9?”
“Lady, I don’t know what kind of authority you think you have, but-”
She cut him off. “Listen, pal. I don’t care what you think about me. What I care about is getting all the information I need. Now, you can help me out and then I’ll leave. Or you can get in my way.” The guy shrunk back as she leaned down again, getting close enough he could see the anger in her eyes. “I don’t think I need to explain what’ll happen then. Let’s just make it easy for everyone, okay?” She popped back to her previous position, smiling brightly.
“R-right, ma’am. Whatever you say.”
“That’s more like it.” She couldn’t get away with this forever, of course, but intimidation sure was a time saver over doing things “properly.” Again, Nathan wouldn’t approve. Oh well. She could be nice once she found him.
“Here we are... 8:30, you said?”
Ami watched carefully as the man scrubbed through the footage. “Wait! That’s him. Go back.”
“There?”
“Yeah; he’s the one running. He gets on that bus. Why didn’t his card show up, then?”
The transit worker frowned, getting invested now. “Let’s see, bus number 79 was assigned to route 17. And... this isn’t bus 79. It’s back here, at 9th and Ash. And the one ahead of it is...” He pulled up another camera view and a series of tables. “It’s over here, at Ironwood! This bus - it’s not on the schedule! And I’m not seeing any swipes from any of its stops. Wh - what?”
“So... you’ve got a rogue bus? The reader’s broken? What does that mean?”
The employee flipped through several more tabs. “Every bus in the area on that route is accounted for at that time. This... this isn’t one of our buses! It’s a fake! But where did it come from? And where did it take these people? Or maybe... no, that wouldn’t make sense.” He turned to face Ami. “You’ve dug up a real mystery here, that’s for sure.”
“Can we track it? Do you have enough cameras?”
“I’m not sure... Maybe if I...”
Ami’s phone vibrated and she glanced down again. Ah! Allie had replied.
“Hey Ami! I’m still in town, how urgent is this? We can meet after work?”
- Meet Allie after work.
❗ - It’s really urgent! Meet Allie at work, right now.
- Let the transit guy do what he wants with the info he just dug up.
- Swear the transit guy to secrecy.
(Winners: , )
- Meet Allie after work.
❗ - It’s really urgent! Meet Allie at work, right now.
- Let the transit guy do what he wants with the info he just dug up.
- Swear the transit guy to secrecy.
(Winners: , )
10
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@Story Notifications
Scene 12
“It can wait a bit,” she sent back. A few texts further confirmed the location and time and she returned her attention to the transit worker.
“It’s no good,” he said. “We don’t have cameras on every single street. It just shows up here, and I have no idea where it goes afterwards.”
Hmm... So he got on a bus that isn’t in the system anywhere and no one knows where it went after that. I think we’re done here. There’s not much else I can find out without knowing where that bus took him.
“Well, thanks for your time; you’ve been so very helpful.” Ami snapped the guy a pair of finger guns, then walked out of the transit authority, leaving the confused worker behind.
Several hours later...
Ami sat idly on the steps of the towering skyscraper Allie had sent her towards, pointedly ignoring the “no loitering” sign just a few dozen feet away. Sunlight reflected off the building’s windows, giving the illusion that the day was brighter than it was.
Allie was late, but only by a few minutes. She’d give her until at least 5:10 before texting to complain. In the meantime, Ami poked through the building’s description on her phone, frowning at the generic “government agency” tag. It didn’t say what agency, nor did any of the reviews or comments specify. She shrugged, supposing that made some sort of sense. Maybe someone was censoring it.
“Hi, Ami, sorry I’m late!” Allie hadn’t changed much since they had last met: she still had the ghost-white hair and eyes that were apparently an artifact of her disappearance. She carried a shoulder bag and, as she approached, hastily took off her ID badge and crammed it into a pocket.
Ami turned and stood up. “Hey! Been a while. You working in this crazy place now? All it says on the map is ‘government agency.’ Are you with some super secret three-letter brigade?” She chuckled, then blinked as Allie nervously looked away. “You ARE! Hahaha; still can’t lie to save your life, huh?”
Allie smiled anxiously. “Well...”
“You’d think that’d be a requirement in FBI-CIA-NSA-land, right? Go on, what kind of alphabet soup are you?”
“I - it’s classified.”
Ami smacked her on the shoulder. “Course it is. Always ‘classified’ with you. Hey, you ready to tell me what happened to Sam yet or is that still ‘classified’ too?”
“Are you going to punch me again if I don’t?”
She considered this. “Hmmm, only if you don’t help me with my other problem. The reason I actually asked to meet you.”
“You said it was related, right? I still can’t say much about, well, that, but I’ll help if I can.” She frowned. “I still feel guilty that I couldn’t say anything. That I still can’t.”
“Yeah, well, I can think of one real easy way to fix that guilt and it’s called ‘telling me what happened to my sister.’ But, anyway, let me explain why I’m here. It’s about my boyfriend Nathan.”
Ami went over the salient points of her investigation, trying to play up the mysteriousness of the whole ordeal but otherwise being truthful. She ended off with “Still haven’t heard anything. It’s been most of the day now; he should have been home hours ago.”
“So... why me? Why not the police? I mean, I don’t investigate missing person cases.”
She glared at Allie suspiciously for that last comment, receiving a nervous glance away in return. “Think about it. I don’t trust the cops. My sister vanished under mysterious circumstances six years ago, and now my boyfriend has too. You are the only other person I know connected to the first incident, and you’re not a cop.” She paused. “Though you are apparently some sort of government spook now. Are you a cop?”
“No! I’m just - uh, I work on polymers. Chemistry stuff. Classified contracts.”
“Right, ‘classified.’ Of course. I’m getting real sick of that word.”
“Sorry.”
“Now tell me, can you help? Do you have any idea what happened to Nathan?”
Allie took a half step back and Ami realized she had been looming over the other woman. “I - I don’t know anything about people vanishing on buses, but-”
Ami actually let her mouth hang open in shock. “You little liar! You’re doing that thing with your hands again! I don’t believe it; you DO know about people vanishing on buses!”
“I - I - hang on, what thing with my hands - ah!”
“You can’t hide this from me, Allie. Not again. Tell me. What. Happened. To. Nathan?”
Allie flinched back and stumbled on the steps. Ami reached down to catch her arm before she could fall, suddenly aware of how forceful she was being. With difficulty, she tried to calm down. “Look, I’m not gonna punch you again. Sorry; I’m just... upset.”
“That’s - that’s okay...” Allie sat down. “You can be really scary when you want to. And very strong.”
She rubbed her neck awkwardly. “Sorry.”
“Look.” Allie hesitated, clearly debating with herself. “Okay, maybe I do have some idea what’s going on. And maybe it was a good thing you told me about it. But I really can’t give you any more information. It’s - please don’t punch me, by the way - but it’s classified.”
“You’re lucky I don’t hate you, Ortiez. Just that word.”
“I can take a look; see if there’s anything I can do. I can’t promise anything, and I won’t be able to tell you, but... well, I’ll try. Sound good?”
- Sounds good. At least someone will be looking for him.
- Sounds bad! You can’t keep hiding this stuff from me! I have a right to be involved!
- Sounds good. At least someone will be looking for him.
- Sounds bad! You can’t keep hiding this stuff from me! I have a right to be involved!
11
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@Story Notifications
Scene 13
Ami sighed. “Alright, fine. Have it your way. But if you find him, or if there’s anything else I can be doing to help, you have to tell me. Okay?”
Allie smiled. “Okay.”
“And... thanks.”
Three weeks later...
“Man, this is way creepier than I had thought it would be,” Nathan complained, clicking on his headlamp.
“You’re telling me. And so cold.” Katy tugged on her jacket, pulling it tighter. “At least it should be pretty safe, right?”
“I don’t know... Carlos said the stacks can be more dangerous than we think, especially in the oldest sections. People have gone missing there. But, yeah, no one’s actually seen a monster.”
“Great! So the monsters are so deadly that no one’s ever lived to tell the tale!” She laughed nervously. “How did you convince me to come with you, again?”
“I asked nicely and you said sure. And I’m very grateful.”
Katy grumbled and fumbled with her jacket again. “Foiled by my own generosity. Okay, what are we looking for?”
“Right.” Nathan pulled out his phone and tapped through a few screens. “We’re looking for this.”
“A VHS tape? I haven’t seen one of those in a while.” She paused, looking around. “Actually, nevermind. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re surrounded by them!”
Indeed, the seventh floor was called “the stacks” for a reason. Aside from the antechamber housing the elevators, the entire floor was dark and filled with enormous library-style shelves containing specimens from every type of storage media humanity had ever produced. Everything from scrolls to books to DVDs, and of course, VHS tapes. The two of them were standing just at the entrance to the darkened section.
“Not just any VHS tape.” He zoomed in and pointed at the label. “X-10M Printer Repair and Maintenance Training. Apparently this is a recording from years ago when the company had just bought most of its printers. Carlos is hoping it’ll help us deal with those nests that keep cropping up.”
“...How? By letting us fix the things producing the monsters so they can work even better? That doesn’t seem smart.”
“No; maybe we can disable them, or reprogram them, or... or something! I don’t know, but it’s better than just sitting around and doing nothing about them! You know they’re showing up more often.”
“Well... okay. But you’re sure we can’t just look up the manual online or something?”
Nathan stepped carefully into the darkness and looked around, headlamp shining on the category labels. “No. It’s not on the Xera website anymore, and we can’t find anything useful on the normal sketchy pdf sites. Everything just errors out.” He lowered his voice. “It’s almost like the building doesn’t want us to find it. That’s part of why we’re doing this.”
“Hm. Alright, so do you know where we’re going?”
“Not really. Carlos said the archives are organized by age, then topic, with related information usually clustered together. I’m trying to follow these signs in a printer-related direction. Hopefully it won’t be too far away.”
Katy glanced back at the elevators as they turned a corner and the light vanished from view. “Hopefully we can find our way back.”
“That too.”
Almost a half hour passed as Nathan and Katy made their way deeper into the stacks. USBs and DVDs began to give way to VHS tapes and they slowed down to pick through the far-more-abundant regular paper books and make sure they weren’t missing anything. Something rustled just out of sight. Nathan froze, listening.
Another rustle. He turned quickly, catching a blurred shadow dart behind a shelf and out of view. He blinked several times, his vision fuzzing temporarily. “Hey, Katy, you seeing this?”
“...”
“Katy?” Nathan turned around, then kept turning until he had done a full 360. She wasn’t there, and her light wasn’t visible anywhere. Shadows kept flickering on the edges of his vision, outside the light from his headlamp. He backed up against a shelf, breathing quickly. “K-Katy! Are you there?”
Silence.
One of the shadows drew in closer, on the left side. Nathan pivoted, flashing it with the light. It retreated, but other shadows still moved silently towards him: too many to illuminate at once. The right side seemed clear. He ran for it.
Shelves passed in a blur. His vision flickered and blurred around the edges, shadows drawing closer until - there was another light! He changed course to dash towards it, feeling the pursuing shadows close on his heels. Just one more shelf: he rounded the corner, stumbled, and nearly fell in surprise as he almost ran into the lantern’s owner.
“Oh, hey,” April said nonchalantly, snapping a book closed and bending down to pick up her lantern. “We meet again. Guess you might be of some use after all.”
⬛ - Shadows! Katy! Chased! Help!
- Something’s not right. [Don’t trust her. Specify your suspicions in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
- Something’s not right. [Don’t trust her. Specify your suspicions in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
3
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@Story Notifications
Scene 14
“Wait wait wait; what are you doing here?!” Shadows swirled around the edges of the lantern light, slowly constricting.
She shrugged. “Just doing some reading. What’s got you so scared?”
The shadows spiraled in closer, dipping into and through the lantern’s illumination and leaving behind little trails of darkness. Light distorted and dripped. His head hurt. “The - the shadows. Can’t you... see?”
April raised an eyebrow and looked around. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. C’mon dude, get up. You’re safe.” She held out a hand to help him off the floor.
Translucent, billowing shadows drew closer and drifted around the two of them, passing through the lantern light without issue. They still wove around the beam from his headlamp. Nathan looked up. A shadow dodged his light with a sudden movement, phasing through April without either seeming to react. “N-NO!” He jumped up and crashed straight through her, the illusion breaking apart into gossamer strands of dark thread. Shadows scattered in confusion as Nathan scrambled to his feet and sprinted off into the darkness, head spinning and vision blurring with his heartbeat.
The shadows quickly shook off their disorientation and pursued. He could feel a sort of light headwind now, a gentle force pulling him back towards the hungry spirits. He was getting so dizzy and it was so hard to see. Where was the exit?
“Psst, this way!” Nathan jumped in surprise as another April gestured from between another set of shelves. “I found your friend. Come on!”
“No! It’s not real!” He ran past, watching the light snuff out again as soon as he passed.
Katy appeared out of the darkness. “Nathan! Thank god I found you; I-”
“Not REAL!” He shoved through her and she poofed into nothingness.
“Hey, kid. You-” Carlos vanished.
“Gonna assign-” Mike disappeared.
“Grunt.” The bus driver burst into threads.
“Come back to me, please...” This one gave him pause, but only for a moment. It would be even more impossible for her to be here. He shoved through Ami as well and her illusory form dissolved.
“AAAAAGH WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!” He stumbled around one more corner, then finally tripped and fell to the ground, too dizzy to continue. Shadows wound close and the vacuum force increased. Thoughts began to drift away. More illusions formed and spoke incoherently, overlapping each other in a discordant clamor of every voice he had ever heard.
Someone shouted over the cacophony and there was a rush of sound and light. Flames crackled. The voices all faded, as did the pulling sensation. Nathan breathed shallowly, almost unconscious and totally drained, until someone grabbed his wrist and squeezed. A fiery pulse of energy rushed through his body, kicking off the dizziness almost immediately. He opened his eyes. Embers still drifted in the air.
“Fucking hell, you really know how to get yourself into trouble,” April said. “Alright, up you get. Those echoes will be back.”
Nathan scrambled to his feet and backed away. “Nonono, you’re not real either! Just another - agh!”
April leapt forward and grabbed him by the wrist again. She held up his arm so he could see it. “Flesh and blood. Echoes can’t mimic that. I’m as real as you are.” After releasing her grip, she rolled her eyes and continued. “Unfortunately. Now come on; we need to get out of here before they come back.”
- No! We need to find Katy!
- Okay. Let’s go.
- Something’s not right. [Don’t trust her. Specify your suspicions in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
- No! We need to find Katy!
- Okay. Let’s go.
- Something’s not right. [Don’t trust her. Specify your suspicions in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
10
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2
@Story Notifications
Scene 15
“No - wait! There’s someone else here; we need to find Katy!”
“Really?! Again? Buddy, what is it with you and having to save other people?”
“Well, I brought her here to look for this tape and - that’s not really important right now, but it’s my fault she’s here so I need to make sure she’s okay!” He took a few steps back towards the shadows, looking back at April. “Can you help me? Please?”
She sighed and looked away. “Ugh, fine. Where’d you leave her?”
“This way, come on!”
Nathan led the way, retracing his steps as best he could to return to where he had last seen Katy. April followed, peering into the darkness around them as if she could actually see outside of his headlamp beam. ...Can she? It’s way too dark, right?
“Paper jams, toner manuals; this is the printer section! What were you two doing here? This is echo territory!”
“Well, we didn’t know that at the time! We were looking for a recording of a training video on printers; we wanted to-”
“On your left!” April brought her hand up to her mouth, then whipped it to the side. A line of fire burst into existence, throwing a rush of sparks into the air and scorching the shadow that had been sneaking up on Nathan. It melted goopily to the floor. “Stay alert. They can’t drain you from a distance until my infusion wears off, but they can still get you up close.”
“How did you do that?” he whispered.
“Thought you wanted to save your friend?”
“Okay, later! I get it!” He skidded to a stop, checking the shelves. “This is it; this is where we got separated. How can we find her?”
She looked around, reading the signs. “Okay, there are only two main nests in this section. The closest one would be... this way. They would have taken your friend there.”
As they ran off again, Nathan had to ask another question. “You seem to know a lot about this place; what’s your deal?”
April glared back at him. “Focus, pal. We’re a little busy right now.”
“Sorry, sorry. Later.”
Before long, they arrived at a semi-cleared area in the stacks. Many shelves had been knocked over and dragged into an unstable, mostly-circular pile. There were plenty of human-sized openings in between the shelves, but without any sort of obvious fasteners between them, it would be dangerous to climb in and risk the entire pile collapsing. Several shadows hovered above the nest, though they sank into the mess as they caught sight of Nathan’s light.
“Is she in that thing?”
“Yep, that’s the nest. Always a hassle to get in there, but these are where you find the weirdest books. And your friend.”
Nathan jumped from foot to foot, anxious to be doing something. “So, what’s the plan?”
April grinned. “You’ll love it. Step one: I’ll distract the echoes. Step two: you’ll crawl in there and get your friend out. Step three: I give her an infusion too, leading to step four: we all run away.”
“Wait, I have to go in there? It’ll collapse on both of us!”
“It’s more sturdy than you think. But, yeah, move lightly.” She sighed at Nathan’s expression. “Look pal, you want your friend back, you put in the work. I’m already helping way more than I should.”
He made an uncertain noise approximating a whimper. “I just-”
“You’ll do fine.” She slapped him on the shoulder, knocking him forward a step. “Ready?”
“No!”
“Great.” April cupped both hands around her mouth and closed her eyes. Nathan could hear her exhaling for several seconds before she released the pose and thrust both hands in front of her. A wave of bright orange fire rippled out, coating the nest and continuing to spray like a flamethrower. She started moving to one side as flames burned and shadows dripped up out of the nest towards her. “Alright, I’ve got their attention! Go!”
“You set where I need to go ON FIRE!”
“Not for long; it’s already burning out! Just get in there before I CHANGE MY MIND!” She whipped her hands down and leapt into the air, trailing fire like a rocket booster, to dodge around a group of echoes that had been encircling her. Nathan took a deep breath, ran forward, and crawled into the nest.
It smelled musty and damp, and true to her words, there was no trace of April’s fire after the first set of shelves. Concerning sounds continued to filter in from outside - flames roaring, shouts of effort, gloopy melting noises - but inside, there was nothing but the quiet crinkles of Nathan crawling over dozens of old books.
Actually, the books here were unusual, too. Most of them seemed to concern printer maintenance and troubleshooting, which made sense given what section he was in, but many of them seemed to be coated in or leaking a shiny black substance resembling ink. The same liquid dripped from shelves above him, lending the tunnel a cave-like quality as droplets splashed on his back. If I were an echo, where would I bring Katy?
At the next junction, he shined his light down all three tunnels. Two looked much the same as the one he had just crawled through, but one opened up into a larger space. Several shiny black shapes - human-sized black shapes - were visible. This is it. He headed forward.
Nathan tumbled out into what he assumed was the center of the nest. The floor of the chamber was flooded with ink, staining his clothes and skin, but that wasn’t the main feature. That designation went to the five human-sized cocoons lying in the ink, seemingly formed of ordinary printer paper soaked in ink for so long that it had turned black. Four cocoons were rock-solid when he tapped them; presumably they had been drying for a while. One was still wet and he could tear it apart by hand.
A leg was quickly uncovered and Nathan tried to remember what kind of pants Katy had been wearing. Thankfully, he didn’t have to as he was able to rip away the rest of the cocoon to reveal her face. Thousands of sheets collapsed into the ink as Nathan pulled Katy out of it. She seemed physically unharmed, but unconscious much as Nathan had been. Presumably April would be able to revive her as well, if he could get her out.
As he lifted her up and tried to plan how to drag her out of the narrow tunnels, a brass subject plaque caught his eye on a nearby shelf. “X-10 Series Printer Documentation,” it read. Mostly books, but... was that a VHS tape? Partially soaked in ink, but it could be the very thing they had been searching for in the first place.
“Any minute now!” April shouted from outside, her voice muffled through the layers of shelving. “Not having fun out here!”
- Get the tape. It’ll take what, 15 extra seconds? She’ll be fine.
⏩ - Leave it. More important to get out now.
(Winner: )
- Get the tape. It’ll take what, 15 extra seconds? She’ll be fine.
⏩ - Leave it. More important to get out now.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 16
Nathan glanced between the exit tunnel and the VHS. She’ll be okay for another ten seconds. “Almost there!” he yelled, turning back to splash through the ink and lever the tape out of its cabinet. It was jammed between two tightly-connected shelves, so it actually took him closer to thirty seconds to make enough room to yank it out. Once he did, he hurried back to drag Katy out of the nest.
Pulling another person through the narrow, twisting passages between shelves wasn’t a quick or easy task - especially while also juggling the tape - and the sounds filtering in from outside started to grow more concerning. The roaring flames of earlier began to give way to more sedate crackling, while the shouts of effort became more strained. April shouted again, “Dude, you gotta hurry it up! I can’t hold them off forever!”
“I can see the exit!” he responded, finally hauling Katy the last few feet and into open air. The tape slipped out of his grasp and fell to the ground.
April slid around the side of the nest and waved a wall of fire into existence, turning and stumbling against the shelves before regaining her footing and rushing over. She grabbed Katy’s wrist and squeezed, exhaling into her other hand. A brief yellow glow flared around the point of contact before fading. Katy opened her eyes and gasped.
“Nathan? What’s going on? Who’s this? I remember-”
“Sorry, no time. Let’s get moving.” April hauled the other woman to her feet, then glanced down at Nathan. “Is that a VHS tape? What the hell; did you go digging for your printer manual while I was out here fighting to give you a chance to get your friend out?”
The flame barrier dissipated and echoes streamed forward. As the three of them ran into the stacks, April growled with effort and cast another flickering wall behind them. Shadows pulled back and prodded at the edges, looking for ways around. She almost fell, but caught herself.
“I’m sorry; it was right there and we really needed it and you seemed fine and-”
“Oh, I seemed fine? Great, glad to have a psychic around who can apparently see how I’m doing better than I CAN!”
He looked away. “Sorry. It’s just really important, and everyone did make it out so-”
“Stuff it. Just keep running.”
It took them a little over ten more minutes to return to the reassuring lights of the entrance. Nathan quietly filled Katy in on what had happened while April still glared into the darkness and moved slowly, clearly exhausted. She didn’t speak until the elevators finally came back into view.
“Alright, here’s your exit. Get out of here.”
Nathan reached out as she turned to walk back into the darkness. “W-wait, April!”
She stopped, but didn’t turn.
“You can’t go back out there like this! You’re clearly tired and in no shape to fight any more of-”
“Oh look, it’s Mr Psychic again. Telling me how I feel and what shape I’m in. For your information, I’m feeling perfectly fine. See ya.”
He hesitated as she took another step into the dark. “Look, I already said I was sorry for going after the tape. I made a mistake and I won’t do it again. Why are you being so hostile?”
“Hostile?! You think this is hostile? Pal, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” She sighed. “No, I don’t blame you for that. You had a goal and you used all the available resources in pursuit of it. I was a resource and I agreed to help (for whatever reason) so you used my abilities. I’d have done the same thing.”
That’s not exactly... “Okay, so what is it then?”
“What, now are you a psychic therapist too? It’s nothing; I told you. I’m not being hostile. Just... pragmatic. Now, if you’ll excuse me...”
- Let her go.
- Ask her to stay.
If Nathan does ask her to stay, he’ll do so by saying something like...
[Not necessarily FPTP; some can be combined. You can write-in your own options.]
❗ - “Look, whatever you’re saying, you are exhausted (and that might be my fault) and I don’t want you to get hurt. Don’t go back out, please?”
❔ - “Hang on; can you please explain what’s going on first? I have so many questions!”
- “If you’re not being hostile, that means you can be friendly! I think we got off on the wrong foot; let’s try again?”
- “I never thanked you for your help. You risked a lot to save us; thank you. Those are some crazy skills you have.”
- “Do you want to know why this tape is so important? Why we were here at all?”
(Winners: , ❗/ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 17
“N-no, hang on!” He took a few steps forward.
She half-turned and glared at him. “What now?”
“I just... I never thanked you for your help. Either time. Back when I first got here and you saved that other guy, as well as today. You risked a lot to help us; thank you. You’ve got some crazy skills.”
From the background, Katy spoke up too. “I don’t know what he means by the other guy, but I am super grateful for what you did today!”
“But I really don’t want you to get hurt, especially since it’s my fault you had to spend so long fighting those echoes. Can you please just stay here where it’s safe for a little bit?”
April sighed again, no longer looking angry. Now she just seemed tired. “Fuckin’ christ, fine. If it’ll make you stop asking.” She turned sharply and walked past them both to lounge on one of the lobby couches arranged near the elevators. “Ten minutes, max. And I’m not going back with you.”
Nathan exhaled in relief, gesturing Katy over to sit down on one of the other nearby couches. “That’s fine; you don’t have to.”
“Good.” She leaned back, closing her eyes.
No one said anything for almost fifteen seconds. “So...”
“Oh my god, what now.”
“I was just wondering, since I was thinking about the last time we met... what did you do with that other guy?”
“Oh, him? Dropped him off with HR. Made sure they could patch him up. Ran off. The usual.”
“Ah. So you didn’t actually mean ‘out of the building’ when you said ‘get out.’” A faint hope that had been smoldering for the last few weeks quietly snuffed out. “You can’t get outside either, huh?”
“Ha! Yeah, no. I’m stuck here just like the rest of you. I just don’t like to hang around with everyone else. I bet you can’t imagine why.”
“Your, uh.” Nathan gestured with his hands and made fiery whooshing noises. “That?”
“Yeah. Basically.” She opened one eye to glare at them. “And you dorks had better not tell anyone about this, alright? I don’t need anyone else coming after me.”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about that! Never even considered it!” He hesitated for just a second. “But, since we’re not going to tell anyone, could you maybe-”
“No.”
“But I didn’t even-”
“I’m not telling you how my powers work, or what I can do with them, or whatever else you were about to ask.”
“... Okay, fair. Fair.” Another brief pause as he glanced over to judge her attitude. “So, uh, you just happened to be in the stacks at the same time and around the same place as us?”
She glared at him again, apparently one of her favorite expressions. “So I like history. Sue me. I spend a lot of time here researching and learning stuff.”
“With all the echoes? Isn’t that super dangerous?”
“Not really, for me. For you, yes, definitely. Don’t go too deep in here.”
“But the fight at the nest-”
“Usually I don’t go around setting nests on fire. Today was a bit of a special case.”
“Okay, okay!”
“Here, you know what, since you’re so dedicated to keeping this conversation going, let me ask you a question instead: the hell did you need a printer manual so badly for?”
“Well, we were going to use it to learn about the printers that keep making monsters! I don’t know if you’ve seen, but more printer nests keep popping up in normally safe floors; more than usual. We’re trying to see if there’s anything in here that can help us understand what’s going on or how to stop it.”
“Ah, no wonder the echoes were so upset. Usually they only swarm like that if you attack their nest, but I guess something tipped them off about what you were looking for.” She rolled her eyes. “The ‘building’ doesn’t like you poking around with the printers. So good luck with that.”
“April, how do you know so much about this place? Just from reading a lot, or... something else?” Are there others like you? People who stay away from everyone else? People who can use... magic?
“I’ve been here a while. A very long while. You get to know the place over the years.”
“But other people who’ve been here for decades don’t know this much; I talked to someone who’s been here for twenty years and she-”
“What can I say? I’m inquisitive. Maybe if other people poked around up here and read as much as I did, they’d know more about how the building works.”
“But they can’t; all the echoes!”
“Huh, yep, you’re right. Sucks for them. Guess it’s just me, then.”
“Look, don’t you want to help anyone? With all your knowledge and skills, I bet you could get us all out of here faster! Why do you really stay away from everyone else? I’m sure in this crazy place, being able to use magic isn’t too much to believe.”
“Oh, would you look at that. It’s been ten minutes.” She stood up and stretched. “I really should be going.”
“But - but, it’s been like five minutes at most!”
“Maybe your clock is slow. See ya around, dorks.” She looked back before heading off back into the stacks. “And I’m sure we will.”
Nathan lowered his hand; she was already gone. “I’m not really sure how to take that last part. Mildly creepy at best?”
“Majorly weird the whole way through.” Katy stood up too. “She’s hiding a lot. Not just the, well, ACTUAL MAGIC, but how does she know all this? And is it really that safe to wander around in here just because you can make fire? If there’s one thing we have to do in this building, it’s work together. We all have to meet those targets or we all get punished. People like her aren’t helping.” She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like her. But... she did save our lives.”
What does Nathan think of April? She’s...
- Rude, suspicious, and dangerous.
- Hiding something, but could be very useful.
️ - Sad and alone?
- Super cool and badass!
Additionally, they’ll be going back to Carlos now. What should they say to him?
- Tell the whole truth, crazy magic and all.
- Mention the echoes and April briefly, but don’t bring up her name or powers. [Carlos may ask for additional details, which Nathan would then have to explicitly deny.]
- Gloss over the details. Don’t mention anything out of the ordinary.
(Winners: , )
- Rude, suspicious, and dangerous.
- Hiding something, but could be very useful.
️ - Sad and alone?
- Super cool and badass!
Additionally, they’ll be going back to Carlos now. What should they say to him?
- Tell the whole truth, crazy magic and all.
- Mention the echoes and April briefly, but don’t bring up her name or powers. [Carlos may ask for additional details, which Nathan would then have to explicitly deny.]
- Gloss over the details. Don’t mention anything out of the ordinary.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 18
Nathan poked the elevator call button and frowned. “I don’t think she’s, y’know, bad. Definitely hiding something, but at least she isn’t hiding that she’s hiding something? If that makes sense?”
“What?”
“Well, take what we just talked about as an example. I asked why she stayed away from everyone and she just left. Could have lied, right?”
“And that’s your basis for trustworthiness?”
“I never said ‘trustworthy’ - just, well, look. She did save us from those echoes. Can’t be all bad. And at least talked a little bit, plus the other guy at my interview. Sure she’s got secrets, but what kind of crazy pyrokinetic wizard would you have to be to not have them, right? So, yeah. I’m sure we’ll see her again, too.”
The elevator arrived and they both entered. “So what’s this about that other guy at your interview?”
Nathan quickly outlined what had happened. “And then I just pushed the button and two guards came in to escort me out. It was really strange.”
Now picking her way through haphazard piles of computer components on the fifth floor, Katy frowned and brought up another point. “So how’d she get in, then?”
“Huh?”
“If there were guards standing outside the whole time. Surely they wouldn’t just let anyone in to mess with an interview, right? I mean, I had to fight a paper demon and everyone told me they couldn’t have helped because of the guards. How’d she get in?”
“I - I don’t know. I don’t think she fought the guards because they seemed totally fine when they came in. Maybe she just... walked past them?”
“But why would they let her in?”
“I don’t know! Maybe we should have asked her!”
“She wouldn’t have answered anyway!”
Carlos popped up from behind a tower of scrap only a few feet in front of them. “Hey, fellas. Having a friendly conversation there?”
Both of them jumped back at his sudden appearance. “Uh, hey Carlos. We didn’t... see you there.”
“Yep, figured as much when you started shouting.” He backpedaled a few steps, dragging something that looked confusingly like a slab of artificial turf. Nathan had learned not to ask about this sort of thing weeks ago. “So, get that tape? Anything exciting happen?”
Katy took a few steps back. “Well, I should get going. I’ll let you and Carlos sort out what to do with the tape. See you around, Nathan.”
Carlos winced at her tone. “Oof. What’d you say to her?”
He shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I said this person who saved our lives isn’t completely untrustworthy?”
“Saved your lives? Something happen while you were out?”
“You could say that.” Nathan quickly summarized the major events of the last hour or two, though he left out April’s name and powers per her request. Without the mention of her magic, his story seemed a little unbelievable, but he did his best. “And then she left and we came back here. Pretty weird, huh?”
The older man nodded sagely. “Pretty weird indeed. You figured out what the monsters in the stacks are and some methods of fighting them, and, even more interesting, learned about some crazy girl living away from everyone else? Are you sure she didn’t mention her name at all? We might be able to get some more information in the directory with that.”
“Uh... nope. Was real secretive. You can imagine why, right? Living out there all alone?”
“But she still risked herself to save you two. Hm! What a mystery.” He carefully slid the tape out of its jacket, but stopped just short of putting it in the VHS player he had dug out of some far corner of the IT department. “But the bigger mystery is the contents of this tape, right?”
“...No? It’ll be a training video on printers, right?”
“Well, yeah, probably. Anyway, let’s give it a watch.”
Carlos clicked the VHS into the player and powered the whole system on. After a few moments of reading, a series of sad clicking noises echoed from the box. He stood up quickly and turned everything off again, removing the tape and glaring at it.
“What went wrong?”
“Hmmm... It’s covered in ink.” Carlos presented the tape to Nathan, who could confirm the presence of sticky, congealed printer ink coating much of the interior of the tape. “Honestly, I probably should have noticed that before putting it in.”
“Oh no! I dropped it while I was in the nest! Can we clean it?”
“Hmm.” He squinted at the tape again. “Not me. But I know someone who can.”
“Who?”
Carlos lowered his voice. “My brother.”
“Whoa. I take it by your tone that you don’t get along?”
“Ha! No, I’m just messin’ with ya. He’s great. Real quiet though, unlike me. I think I’ll take this tape down to him right now and see what he can do with it. It’s been a while since I visited anyway. You want to come with?”
- “Sure! Sounds fun.”
️ - “Actually, I’ll stay here.”
If Nathan stays here, what should he do?
- Not much. Recover from all the excitement.
- Try to find April in the directory like Carlos had suggested. There can’t be that many of them, right?
- Try to find Katy. [Suggest what he should say to her]
- Go talk to Mrs Tilbury.
(Winner: )
- “Sure! Sounds fun.”
️ - “Actually, I’ll stay here.”
If Nathan stays here, what should he do?
- Not much. Recover from all the excitement.
- Try to find April in the directory like Carlos had suggested. There can’t be that many of them, right?
- Try to find Katy. [Suggest what he should say to her]
- Go talk to Mrs Tilbury.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 19
“Uh, sure, why not?” Nathan hesitated, coming up with a reason. “Actually, is this going to be some dangerous adventure? Because I’m a little adventured out right now.”
“Heh. No, nothing dangerous. He’ll just be downstairs near the elevators.”
“Okay, but how far downstairs? Because if he’s down in the mines, even right next to the elevators isn’t necessarily safe and-”
“You don’t want even a little bit of mystery?” At this point they had made it back to the elevator bank and were waiting for one to arrive. “Fine. He’s got a little hideout in the parking garage, just a little past the bus stop.”
“The parking garage? What, is your brother the bus driver? The guy who kidnaps everyone?”
“Yep.” Carlos stepped into the elevator. “He’s a good guy, really. Just a little quiet. It’s not his choice to be the Driver, and someone would have to take his place if he quit. Can’t run a business without new hires!”
“You know, I have wondered about that, actually.” Nathan scratched his chin. “If we stopped taking the bus out to go kidnap people, would this place eventually die out? Sure, everyone in here would die (of old age or otherwise) but would that stop it? Mrs Tilbury says this has been going on for at least decades, so that’s hundreds or thousands of innocent people trapped in here. Wouldn’t it be worth it to shut it down for good?”
Carlos shrugged. “I don’t know if that would work. Maybe the guards can drive the bus if needed and we’d all die for no reason. I wouldn’t want to risk it. Kinda doubt you’d get much buy-in for that plan, regardless.”
“Well yeah; I wasn’t suggesting that. I was just wondering, is all.”
“Always good to wonder. Anyway, it’s just this way.”
Nathan looked around as they walked; he hadn’t been back to the parking garage since he had first arrived at HaneCorp. The bus was parked at the curb, sitting dark and empty and waiting for its time to drive back out and kidnap more innocent people. The dull yellow streetlamps remained the only illumination and darkness still swallowed the garage outside of their radius. Carlos was leading the two of them along the wall to the right. Thankfully, they didn’t have to leave the lights’ domain completely; a bland blue service door presented itself after only twenty feet. Carlos knocked.
A few seconds passed, during which Nathan confirmed that uncomfortably wet, echoing clicking noise was still present, then Marco the bus driver opened the door with a grunt.
“Hey, bro, good to see you again!” Carlos gave the much larger man a fist bump before all three of them entered, leaving whatever was making those noises safely outside.
The room was surprisingly comfortable for having obviously been just a bland concrete storeroom in a previous life. Marco had put up folding screens to divide the space and replaced the overhead tube lights with warmer strings and lanterns. Blankets and paintings hung on the walls, leaving only a few patches of the original concrete visible. He had even moved in a counter, bed, and some appliances so the entire place resembled a welcoming studio apartment more than a windowless concrete prison. Light rock music played gently from somewhere behind a divider. One other interesting touch Nathan noted were the dozens of varieties of fungi growing in pots and planters throughout the room. Many were luminescent and contributed their own strange glow to the room’s lighting.
Marco wandered over to the counter and started pouring water into a kettle. He grunted, gesturing at an array of little glass containers filled with leaves.
“Oh, Marco, you don’t have to; we’re just briefly-”
Another grunt; another gesture at the containers.
“Well, if you insist.” To Nathan, he whispered, “I don’t know where he gets this tea, but he’s quite proud of it. Some of it’s quite good! But some, well... See if there’s anything there that catches your fancy.”
- “Default blend.”
️ - “Sunrise Memories.”
- “Moulin’s Call.”
️ - “Inky Miasma.”
- “Glowshroom #2.”
- “Essence of Starlight.”
- “Cherry.”
- “No thanks.”
(Winner: )
- “Default blend.”
️ - “Sunrise Memories.”
- “Moulin’s Call.”
️ - “Inky Miasma.”
- “Glowshroom #2.”
- “Essence of Starlight.”
- “Cherry.”
- “No thanks.”
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 20
Nathan skimmed through the jars, eventually settling on one with dark navy leaves. “‘Essence of starlight?’ That sounds interesting.”
Marco grunted in assent and picked up the jar, as well as the yellow-green “Glowshroom #2,” glancing over at Carlos for approval before continuing. He busied himself fiddling with spoons and strainers while his brother explained why they were here.
“So, here’s the tape. You think you could help with that?”
Marco left the ingredients to steep, then accepted the tape and carefully set it down on a nearby desk, prying gingerly at the internals with a series of tiny pliers and brushes. He grunted again, nodding, then held up a finger.
“Oh, good.” To Nathan, Carlos translated. “He said he can clean it, and it should only take a few minutes. Good thing too, given how much trouble it caused you, hey?”
“Right...”
Several minutes passed as Marco tinkered with the tape and occasionally stood up to tend to the tea. Carlos seemed content to sit around and chat idly to his brother, receiving nothing but grunts in response but somehow able to interpret a good deal of meaning. Nathan just sat back and let himself calm down after the harrowing chases of the previous hour or so.
Eventually the tea was ready, and the tape was too. Surprisingly, Marco actually had a VHS player along with other older hardware. Nathan supposed that made sense; the two were brothers. As the larger man set it up, again refusing any offer of help, Nathan tried a sip of “Essence of Starlight.”
It was... interesting, as he had predicted. The base flavor seemed to be primarily licorice mixed with a smoother taste that reminded him of marshmallow. On top of that, there were occasional tiny bursts of various kinds of fruit - strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, more - that appeared in one sip and were gone the next. It was a little strange, and it certainly didn’t magically transport him to watching the stars under a calm night sky, but it was perfectly acceptable and he’d probably have it again. He glanced over at Carlos and was a little unnerved to see that his drink was glowing.
Marco hit “play” and the tape crackled to life.
Elsewhere...
Allie stood nervously, arms crossed and trying to pretend like she was being intimidating. She hated fieldwork like this, but the director had pressured her into going. Said her “particular skills and experiences would be relevant.” She had to admit, he was probably right. Didn’t make her any more comfortable though.
“Okay, ma’am, if you’ll just follow me.” At least the engineer who was leading the way seemed equally nervous. Really, the only person who actually appeared collected was her partner today, Agent Lantoon. The man was built like a truck and hardly spoke except to deliver a critical observation that would invariably save the day. Usually something like “Allie, duck.” She grimaced, remembering her last outing with Lantoon. The man was good at spotting hidden sawblades, but not perfect. And of course Allie herself had been useless. Ugh. Shut it. You’ll do fine.
“Can you remind me again why you discontinued the X-10 line?” Allie asked, flipping through her notes as they walked. “From the records you provided, all models were extremely popular.”
“Right, but that’s only for gross numbers. We only ever sold those models to a handful of companies, and when they stopped ordering, we stopped producing.”
“And those companies were...?”
“Only four total, but they were big buyers.” The engineer lowered his voice. “You know, a lot of these records were sealed and I had to get VP-level approval to get at them.”
“I know. I had to give the warrant to your VP. This is important business. Now, what were the companies?”
“Well, the biggest by far was something just known as The Factory. Ma’am, are you alright?”
“Fine.” Allie bent down to pick up the pen she had dropped. “Please continue.”
“Right. Well, I couldn’t find any more info on whatever this ‘Factory’ is - no contacts, addresses, or any other info. Just PO numbers and delivery dates. Everything stopped for them in 1971. After that, a few more took over. Raftoniks, Inc. was the smallest, and I could actually find some info on them. They went out of business in 1997, but I put all the stuff I could find in the file. Then there was Hendersen & Sons Custom Fittings, which stayed in business until Mr Hendersen died in 2011 and none of his sons took over the company. The last one I found is Hane Mining Corporation, which I had some trouble finding a definite reason for their closure. They stopped ordering in 2004, though I didn’t find any documentation on why. Anyway, as far as I can tell they’re still in business and still buying other products from us; just not the X-10s.”
Allie finished scribbling down a note. “So you have addresses and contact info for everything except... the Factory?”
“Well, sort of. Raftoniks went bust nearly thirty years ago and their building is now a supermarket. Hendersen has been out for over fifteen years, but I did get the names of his sons. I’m sure you FBI people have ways to track them down from there. Hane Corp, though, absolutely. They’re still in business and we’ve got a long list of contact info for them. It looks like their building is just downtown, too, if you wanted to pay them a visit.”
“We’ll... consider that.” She glanced at Lantoon, who gave a careful nod. “Now, please show us the printer.”
“Alright, but you folks listen first.” The engineer stopped before a heavy-looking metal door with several “KEEP OUT” signs draped across it. They were already in the basement and past several locked doors. “I know you government types like to think you’re invincible, but people died in that thing and no one knows how. Please be careful.”
Lantoon spoke up for the first time in his baritone voice. “That’s why we’re here. We will make this object safe for removal.”
“Okay! That’d be great! Here’s the door key. I’ll just be, uh, back that way a bit. Let me know if you need anything else!”
Allie nodded. The engineer left. She held up the key and glanced at Lantoon. Somewhere in her blood, she could feel a little tug, like a tiny magnet. “There’s definitely some in there. I don’t know how it’ll react when I try to purge it. Maybe you should stay out here, just to be safe?”
The larger man shook his head. “Not a chance, Ortiez. I know your style. You’re going to make that thing try to kill you.”
She took a step back, pretending to be outraged. “What? I would never - hahaha, yeah, it always seems to go that way, doesn’t it? Damn fieldwork. Honestly, I was expecting this to be another false alarm. It’s been a while since we actually had a real anomaly.”
- Allie goes in first and aggressively. Lantoon covers her.
- Lantoon goes in first and gives Allie time to purge the thing.
️ - Go in carefully, not taking unnecessary risks or leaping straight in.
(Winner: ️ )
- Allie goes in first and aggressively. Lantoon covers her.
- Lantoon goes in first and gives Allie time to purge the thing.
️ - Go in carefully, not taking unnecessary risks or leaping straight in.
(Winner: ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 21
“So, how do you want to play this?”
Allie considered this. She was already feeling jittery and they hadn’t even gone in yet. She closed her eyes for just a moment, focusing inward and feeling for the pressure that would activate her powers. Still there, thankfully. “Slow and careful? We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”
Lantoon nodded. “Right beside you.”
She fit the key into the lock and placed a hand on the doorknob, exhaling. She could feel that magnetic pull even through the metal, drawing her towards its poisonous well. Boy do I have a surprise for you. Alright. Let’s do this. Cautiously, she slowly opened the door and stepped into the room. Lantoon followed close behind.
An extremely large multifunction printer squatted unpleasantly in a pool of light cast from a single bare bulb. Deep scratch marks lined the walls, some coated in obvious bloodstains. The printer itself seemed overgrown and almost alive, its component parts whirring and clicking under a hard plastic exterior. Sheets of paper layered the floor, most blank but some displaying headshots of terrified people. As they moved closer, tiny lights on the printer’s flanks began to click on and the internal whirs grew louder.
Allie motioned for Lantoon to head around the side as she crept closer. She could feel an intelligence here: rough and primitive, but still very present. “Hey, shh... It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.”
Access doors flapped uncertainly and a dangling scanner light flashed on to illuminate her. Allie squinted, bringing a hand up to shade her eyes. “I know you’ve been locked up here for a long time. It’s okay; we’re here to get you out. Sound good?”
The entire assembly rotated slowly, shuddering along on hidden little feet, to follow Allie as she moved. Lantoon was behind it now; he raised a hand in a thumbs up. “Now, all I need to do here is just clean you up a bit. Okay? Just a little bath, good?” She gingerly reached forward, the scanner bulb following her arm. Her hand was shaking.
The printer’s flank was surprisingly warm, heated by whatever internal processes were going on below the surface, fueled by that well of hidden lacre she knew was in there. She let her palm rest on the thing’s side for a moment, just allowing it to get used to her touch. “See? I’m not going to hurt you. Now...” She motioned to Lantoon with her other hand. “I’m just going to do that cleaning I mentioned, and we can get out of here. Ready? In three... two... one... now.”
Allie never was entirely sure how this next part worked, even though she had been able to do it for years. Something about her fully-lacre-blooded body gave her the ability to not only sense the liquid, but also control it. Well, to some degree. Most of the anomalous incidents she had investigated were caused by some measure of lacre infecting and inhabiting an object (or worse, a person). In many cases, the liquid grew a mind of its own - often unfinished and primitive - to protect itself. And in most of those cases, that mind didn’t take too kindly to Allie rooting around in it.
She closed her eyes and tensed her fingers, almost able to feel her astral hand reaching out and grasping at the thing’s core. So much plastic... in the way - agh! She struggled to exert her influence through the thing’s many layers of protective plating and internal mechanisms, gears and levers and cartridges leaving her mental probes confused. Hang on, almost-
The printer screeched and an access door blasted open in its side. A solid ream of paper ejected from the machine, catching Allie in the chest and sending her spinning to the floor. She coughed, winded from the impact, then yelped and rolled to the side as something resembling a hole puncher slammed into the ground where she had just been. Sheets of paper sprayed into the air.
“I can’t get in; we need to open it up!” Allie shouted. “Can you-”
Her question was cut off suddenly as the room ballooned in size. The walls and ceiling fell away, replaced by simple blackness. The printer itself grew, morphed, shifted. In seconds, it was a ten-story behemoth of jagged plastic teeth and output chutes pelting out silver-white beasts dozens at a time.
Allie stepped back, shocked. THIS amount of power in a PRINTER? “M-Mantle! Code Mantle!” she shouted, as if maybe Lantoon could hear her. Then, she...
- Runs away and doesn’t get killed!
- Fights the beasts and keeps the printer’s attention while Lantoon takes care of it!
- Enters the enormous printer and purges it from the inside!
(Winner: )
- Runs away and doesn’t get killed!
- Fights the beasts and keeps the printer’s attention while Lantoon takes care of it!
- Enters the enormous printer and purges it from the inside!
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 22
She took two steps back, bounced in place, then dashed forward, drawing an archway in midair with her finger. A glimmering silver door drew itself into existence concurrently with her motion and Allie leapt through the portal before the first winged beasts could get anywhere close.
She reappeared at the base of the printer, stumbling out through a matching silver doorway that quickly snapped shut. Before the beasts could figure out where she had gone and come after her, Allie pressed both hands against the plastic armor and focused. In this ethereal, lacre-dominated... pocket dimension? In this place, whatever it was, her powers grew much, much stronger due to all the ambient... she hesitated to call it “magic,” but didn’t really have a better name. Anyway, whatever it was called, it meant she could do... this!
Allie moved her hands apart, straining as if she were trying to rip a rope in two. Sparks of burning silver leapt from her hair and hands and she knew from experience that her eyes were glowing the same color. After several seconds of effort, the plastic surrendered to her power and tore apart. She leaned against the wall for a moment and took a deep breath, then got back up and clambered into the machine itself.
The printer’s interior was hot, loud, and constantly in motion. Allie squeezed through a series of twisting passageways that were clearly not designed for humans, twice having to use her abilities to forcibly widen the way. At least none of the beasts from outside could follow her in here. She wondered what the printer would do once it figured out where she had gone. She wondered how Lantoon was doing. He didn’t have any of her more magical abilities, but in exchange he had some technological tricks up his sleeve. He was probably doing just fine.
After minutes on end of climbing through the printer’s internals, dodging all manner of dangerous machinery along the way, Allie finally dropped out of a ventilation duct into a chamber that was both large enough to stand up in and partially flooded with ink. She only realized that last part after whiffing her landing and splashing down into the stuff. She picked herself up off the ground, noting to her dismay that her entire outfit was now covered in printer ink. Wait a minute.
Allie looked closer, peering at her sleeve. “Wait, this isn’t ink. Or... not entirely?” Little silver streaks ran through the liquid, small enough to be invisible to the naked eye. Of course, they couldn’t hide from her enhanced vision, and the faint magnetic tug was unmistakable as well. “So that’s where you’ve been hiding it. Alright, let’s get you cleaned up.”
A screeching roar echoed through the chamber and Allie winced, covering her ears. The ink began to bubble before a huge plastic roller emerged from beneath the surface, its sides perforated with hundreds of pinprick holes. It stayed stationary for a moment. “What is that; a toner dru - aAH!”
She cut herself off and leapt to the side as the drum began to rotate and hundreds of lines of laser light sprayed in all directions. They painted the whole room with no blind spots or cover; there was no way to dodge them. Allie quickly drew a silvery shield between her and the drum and slumped down against it, checking the damage. Dozens of horizontal lines burned through her clothes and scorched her skin, but thankfully she had gotten the shield up before anything had sliced her into pieces. She kept one hand on the shield while passing the other over the worst burns, glowing with silvery light and leaving behind unblemished skin.
The strain of using her powers so much was beginning to wear on her; she felt lightheaded, shaky, and weak. She couldn’t keep the shield up forever; she had to end this before the printer overwhelmed or just outlasted her. That toner drum was definitely the source of all this. But what to do about it?
- Blow it up. This will knock Allie out and damage the printer, but Lantoon will be able to help her with the machine disabled.
- Use the silver doorway; try to redirect the thing’s lasers and then get out. Risks not ending the fight if it’s immune to lasers.
- Purge the printer as initially planned. Risks serious injury to Allie as she’ll be vulnerable while concentrating, but will end the fight with the printer intact.
️ - Just stay put as long as possible. She certainly has it distracted, and Lantoon must be doing something useful, right?
(Winner: )
- Blow it up. This will knock Allie out and damage the printer, but Lantoon will be able to help her with the machine disabled.
- Use the silver doorway; try to redirect the thing’s lasers and then get out. Risks not ending the fight if it’s immune to lasers.
- Purge the printer as initially planned. Risks serious injury to Allie as she’ll be vulnerable while concentrating, but will end the fight with the printer intact.
️ - Just stay put as long as possible. She certainly has it distracted, and Lantoon must be doing something useful, right?
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 23
Allie winced, steeling herself for the lasers again. I’ve gotta finish this, now. And if I do anything too drastic... no, I need to just purge it. I’m right here. Just - alright, here we go. She dropped to the inky floor, face down and stretched out so her head was pointed away from the laser drum. Now she had to drop the shield to free up her powers for the purge. I really hope this works.
She dropped the shield and pressed her hands into the ink, questing through the lacre for that mind she had felt. Most of the laser lines passed harmlessly overhead. Two or three were low enough, though, and she could feel them carving through her shoes. She had arranged her legs to cover the rest of her body, hoping she’d have enough time to finish the purge before the laser could cut through any parts she couldn’t heal.
The next pass sliced through the thick rubber boot and she could feel burning heat on her foot. A slight shuffle; buy more time. Focus, focus. Come on... Where are you?
In her mind’s eye, Allie traveled through a sea of silver-white liquid, arcing along webs of nodes and lines at the speed of thought. She really didn’t understand how this part worked, but some part of the lacre inside her provided an instinctual guide. This was the right way to go; just a few more connections... there! Wait, WHAT?
In the dripping heart of the printer’s mental core, silvery lacre split apart at her command to reveal a crushed, mangled, inky black corpse curled up and grinning. It raised its head and seemed to speak in a terrifyingly familiar voice. “Welcome back, Ms Ortiez. How good to see you again.”
Allie screamed and forced the lacre together, obliterating the corpse in a tidal wave of silver liquid. No, no no no. Not you again. Not here; not now. “No, please, NOT YOU!”
“Allie! Can you hear me?”
“Ugnh, huh?” Allie opened her eyes. She was lying on her back in the concrete room. Back in reality. Lantoon knelt over her and smiled broadly as she blinked.
“Welcome back. How are you feeling?”
“... My legs hurt. Oh, shit - I, lasers and-” She tried to sit up, but her vision greyed out and she returned unwillingly to the floor. Everything sounded like it was underwater.
“Relax. There’s no permanent damage. You can fix yourself up once you get some strength back. Just stay put for a minute.”
She stayed put. Lantoon was doing something with her legs; the pain lessened. “I think we’re in trouble,” she said. “That printer had way too much power.”
“Unusual, yes. My PRS could barely keep up. You didn’t have fun either, obviously.”
“Not really, no.” Allie paused, considering. No, I can’t believe it. It was a figment drawn from my memories or something. I just... I can’t panic everyone yet. Not without some more evidence. “We need to figure out how this thing got so much lacre in it,” she continued, omitting any mention of the corpse. “Did I disable it or destroy it?”
“It’s suppressed for now; you broke its mind. All that’s left is the liquid and the printer itself. I called in a containment team.”
A sigh of relief. “Good. Maybe we can figure out where it came from. It’s got to have a serial, right? Maybe one of those companies...” She trailed off. “Cam, how much do you know about the Factory?”
“Some,” he said carefully. “Enough to know that it’s not good to hear of it again. And enough to know that you’re probably going to be assigned this case.”
“Alright, alright.” She could tell by his tone that he didn’t want to know anything more. Always by the book; “clearance” this and “classified” that. She was just so bad at keeping secrets. As Ami knows all too well. Actually, I wonder if this is related to the bus disappearances? If Bolte is involved again somehow... No, Allie, stop it. He’s dead. You killed him. Lacre can’t bring back the dead; you know that. You TRIED that.
Still, the thought nagged at her.
...
Hours later, Allie paced between the table and the window, gripping the carpet with her toes and worrying about everything. Her white-and-cream forest cat Buttercream watched from his tower in the corner, his glittering eyes tracking her movements. She stopped and stared out the window again, as she had done every few minutes for the past half hour. The city was beautiful at night, at least to her, with glimmering lights of all colors dappling the skyline. A train clattered past, threading its way between buildings like a glowing, advertisement-clad silver snake.
She paced back to the kitchen table.
The AIB had been characteristically fast in tracking down the printer’s origin: it had been one of the ones sold to Hane Mining Corporation in 2003, near when the company had stopped ordering. While Allie had been busy healing her legs, other agents had tried to email, call, and eventually physically visit the Hane Corp offices. No one but an autoresponder replied to the email, no one but a robot answered the phone, and the office address listed on the company’s website was owned by an entirely different corporation with seemingly no relation. “They do advertising, Butt!” Allie explained to her cat. “And there’s no readings anywhere near the building! I just don’t get it!”
She pressed her forehead into Buttercream’s fluffy belly. He graciously allowed her to do so without getting his claws out. “It’s not a dead end. Hane Corp has to be involved. I just don’t know what to do from here! And don’t even get me started on Wilhelm Mc’fucking Bolte. He’s dead. Guarantee it. But...”
She lifted her head out of her cat’s fluff and stared at his face. “Is it really that impossible?” She scratched at his head and neck, eliciting a rumbling chirp. “I’m not going back down there. They can’t make me, right? Right?”
Buttercream had no answers for her. Allie sighed and paced back to the table, staring at the little orange pill bottle. “For anxiety,” the doctor had said. Yeah, right. I don’t need those. Plus, I always feel so... slow after I take any. I’m in the middle of an important investigation; I can’t drug myself!
She held up her hand. Only shaking a little. I’m fine.
- Take the pills.
- No way.
(Winner: )
- Take the pills.
- No way.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notification
Scene 24
She stared at the bottle for several more seconds, eventually growling something approximating the word “fine” and downing a single capsule. “Just because I’d feel guilty if I didn’t, though,” she told the medicine. “I’m not doing a full dose; I’m too busy for that.”
Allie jumped as her laptop suddenly started playing a far-too-cheerful ringtone. She rounded the table and sat down in front of it, accepting the call after smoothing back her hair just a little bit. The camera activated and a familiar, also far-too-cheerful face appeared.
“ALLIE!” Ella shouted, moving back from the camera. “You look terri - uh, great!”
“Thanks. You... huh? Nice hair.”
Ella swooshed it for the camera. She had developed a bit of an obsession with loud, flamboyant dyes shortly after their return from the Factory. She admitted it was partly to help her feel like a different person than Allie, whose silver-white hair stubbornly refused to take any color. Today, Ella wore a bright pink, purple, and blue tricolor mix that seemed so fresh it must have just been done recently. “Like the colors? I think this is my best one yet.”
“They’re really vibrant; I like it.” Allie hesitated. “But, do you know that you’re kind of wearing the bi flag on your head there?”
“Yep!” She winked.
“You’re...?” Allie trailed off.
“Yep!”
“But I’m straight!”
“I’m not you anymore! Also, are you suurree?”
“Uh-”
Ella laughed at Allie’s frozen expression. “Just messin’. Anyway, you had a rough day, huh?”
“You can say that again.”
“You had a rough day, huh?”
“Ella.”
“Sorry. I’ve just got a lot of energy today.”
“You have a lot of energy every day!”
“What can I say? I do. But okay, serious time. How can I help?”
Allie summarized the day’s events to her doppelganger sister. Ella had certainly grown into her own person over the six years since her creation - awakening? - in the Factory. Originally nothing more than a lacre-produced duplicate of Allie, she had quickly cultivated her own personality, appearance, and life to the point where the two considered each other sisters rather than strange magic twins. They still shared twenty years of memories from before the Factory, but as time went on, those seemed less and less immediate than the new memories they made on their own.
“So, I don’t know. I’m just kind of freaking out here. I knew these disappearances were leading to something big, but I didn’t think the Factory would be involved. And that corpse...” She looked up. “Have you dreamt of Bolte recently? The Factory? Anything?”
Ella shook her head. “No, nothing. I haven’t heard anything about Bolte or the Factory since... man, I don’t know. Must have been years ago. I thought it was contained?”
“Yeah, it is! Everything’s still flooded, but there’s no mind to direct it. They’ve got monitors around the Admin entrance and nothing’s spiked. I don’t know; if something in that place is involved, it’s buried pretty deep.” She hesitated, curling a strand of hair around her finger. “Do you... do you think they’re going to make me go back down there?”
“No!” She paused, thinking. “Probably not. Look, they can’t force you! What are they going to do? They need you.”
“They could guilt-trip me. You know I’m a sucker for sad stories and them saying I’m hurting people by not doing anything. That’s how they recruited me in the first place. You know I never wanted to be involved in this!”
“Allie. You’re gonna be okay. I’m here for you. You won’t have to go back down there; I promise. If they need someone to go look, I’ll do it. We’re both immune.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
She smiled. “Of course! But... maybe it won’t be necessary. Do you have any other leads? I know you were talking about that printer coming from Hane Corp; have you guys dug up anything on them?”
Allie frowned. “No! They still have a website and they’re even still selling stuff; you can order from them right now! But no one answers the phone or responds to emails, and the building belongs to some other company. They took some monitors out to the site, but nothing. No spikes. I guess the address could just be wrong, but I don’t know how we’d get the right one if no one will answer the phone!”
“Hmmm... Have you checked the staff directory? Maybe you could track one of the employees to their house?”
“Maybe? I don’t know what they’ve tried yet. I was busy regrowing my legs at the time.”
“Well, why not take a look now? Here, what’s the website?”
Allie shrugged and provided the URL. It was usually easier to indulge Ella than try and talk her out of it, and who knew? Maybe she was onto something.
“Okay, directory, directory... Here, I’ll start with ‘Ortiez.’” Ella typed in the name and smiled, rolling her eyes. “Dang, we don’t work there. Alright, let’s go from here. Hm... Parker, Pasternack, Petersen, Peterson - ooh, fancy - Petrenov-”
Allie cut her off, suddenly interested. “Hang on, go back.”
“Peterson?”
“No, before that.”
“Petersen?”
“Before that.”
“Pasternack?”
“That’s it. What’s the first name?”
“Nathan. You know this guy?”
You’re kidding. “Yes I know this guy! That’s Ami’s boyfriend, the one who disappeared on the bus a few weeks ago! That means... that means the buses and Hane Corp have to be connected, which means these printers, the Factory, lacre...” She trailed off, struggling to put it together. “I don’t - I don’t actually know what that means, but it’s something! We can do something with this! Does it have specific contact information?”
“I don’t know who Nathan or Ami are, but I’m just glad you’re excited about it! Here, let me send you the link. It’s got an office phone and an email.”
Allie pulled up the page. “I don’t expect any response from these either, since we couldn’t get anyone on the main line, but it’s worth a try. Thanks a ton, Ella! It’s always a good idea to talk to you!”
“Aw, no problem. I love helping out with your investigations; we never get anything nearly that exciting down here. But-”
“Well, I better get looking; talk to you later!”
“Hang on!” Ella glared at Allie. “We’re not done talking. We haven’t even touched on how you’re doing with all this going on. Have you been taking your pills this time?”
“Yes! Just did before you called, actually!”
“Mm hmm. A full dose? And yesterday? And the day before?”
“Ella, stop it! I can’t; you know that! I’m too busy and those things mess with my head.”
“That’s what they’re supposed to do.” She sighed. “How are you supposed to be healthy if you keep ignoring what your doctors tell you? I just... I worry about you.”
“Well, maybe... Maybe you shouldn’t! Maybe I’m doing fine and the doctors don’t understand me; have you ever thought of that? I’m one of only two lacre-blooded humans on the planet; no one knows how I work now! I tried telling them what those pills were doing and that they didn’t help, but they-”
Ella shouted over her. “Have you ever taken them properly, for at least like a week? Of course they don’t work if you’re taking half doses and skipping days!”
Allie was yelling now too, all the frustration and fear from the day finally spilling over. “I told them and I told you! I feel so dumb on those things if I take them like they want! I can’t do that! And what did they say? ‘Oh, just give it a week and we can re-evaluate.’ AAGH!”
“That’s - that’s a perfectly reasonable respons-”
“No, you don’t underSTAND! No one does! The dreams and the pills and the pulls and the... I just KNOW stuff and...” She trailed off, breathing too quickly.
“Allie...” Ella reached towards the screen. “Have you told anyone about this? Are you okay?”
“No! No, I’m NOT okay and no one gets it! Not even you! No dreams... you’ve got it so lucky.”
“Allie, I’m coming up there. I don’t care what they say; I’m coming to visit.”
“No! I don’t need - I’m not - JUST STOP IT!” She slammed her laptop shut, ending the call, then collapsed onto the couch and screamed into the upholstery until she ran out of breath.
She stayed in that position for a while. Moving was hard, so she didn’t. Breathing was hard, but she’d have to move to fix that, so she didn’t. She clutched a pillow and clung to it like a raft, eyes squeezed shut as memories of Bolte and the Factory ripped at her mind.
Eventually, something rough and wet scraped against her face and her limbs unlocked enough to uncurl. Buttercream licked her cheek and headbutted her with a meow, nuzzling his way into the space between the pillow and her body. Allie chuckled breathlessly and let herself slump down into a more natural pose. She had been hyperventilating and still felt lightheaded.
That was a bad one, she thought aimlessly, her mind finally slowing down enough to form a coherent statement. Her hand idly stroked Buttercream, who purred into her chest. I should apologize to Ella. And maybe... She glanced vaguely towards the kitchen table, though she couldn’t actually see the pill bottle from here. Maybe I should give those another chance. If it means I get to stop having panic attacks like this, maybe it’s worth it.
Allie let her eyes drift closed, still idly stroking Buttercream. Her hand slowed as sleep began to creep up on her until suddenly - “What am I going to tell Ami?!”
- “Nathan has been kidnapped by Hane Corp.”
- “I found something, but I can’t tell you.”
- Nothing. Not yet.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 25
“The specified software is available in the company portal for self-install,” Nathan wrote. “Please see the following knowledgebase article for instructions:”
He tabbed over to another screen, quickly searching up and copying the URL, then pasted it in and sent the email, closing the ticket. Another one down; only three more to go before he would have worked his way through the entire queue. At least, for now. Funny thing about IT problems: people didn’t stop having them just because you finished the current batch.
He opened the next ticket: something about issues printing to PDF, but without any details on the actual problem, location, machine, or basically anything useful. He rolled his eyes and started typing up a brief response, his mind wandering to think about printers after the reminder.
The VHS tape he had gotten out of the stacks had certainly provided some interesting new information. Nathan, Carlos, and Marco had watched it several times to jot down all the procedures and other potentially useful notes. While the “maintenance” section hadn’t been terribly useful - they almost never wanted to actually fix the things that kept spitting out monsters - the “programming” portion seemed like it could be very helpful indeed.
The Xera instructor had gone over code functions, syntax, and mechanics in enough detail that Carlos had felt confident hacking together a few scripts that could shut down or potentially even hijack existing printers. They hadn’t had a chance to test anything yet, with Carlos occupied finishing up a series of server upgrades and Nathan handling the queue in the meantime, but he had promised to get around to it before the end of the week. If they managed to successfully take over a monster printer... Well, Nathan wasn’t entirely sure what that would mean, but it sure would be exciting.
Another potentially noteworthy occurrence in the tape was the presence of Henry Hane, CEO and presumably founder of Hane Corp. The man seemed to be in his 70s at the time of recording and looked absolutely exhausted. He had still commanded respect, even when frail, based on the behavior of other employees. Even so, given the man’s age and the fact that the recording was on a VHS tape, Nathan quietly doubted Henry could possibly still be alive. He wondered who was running the company in his absence, if anyone.
Anyway. He set the printing ticket to “Awaiting Customer Response” and moved on to the last one currently in the queue: a forwarded message from the sales department, asking if a recent series of purchase orders was spam. Nathan clicked into the ticket and read through, intrigued.
The buyer was listed as the United States Anomalous Investigations Bureau, and they had put in almost a dozen seemingly nonsensical orders: various types of metal ores in quantities that were too small to be useful. Plus - he did a quick web search - the US government didn’t have a department named the Anomalous Investigations Bureau. Definitely spam.
But...
The email address seemed legitimate; “procurement@aib.gov” had all the right certificates to prove that someone with control over that .gov domain had sent the message. But the website doesn’t exist. At least, not when searching. Hmmm... Curious, he typed in the address manually. After a brief wait, he was redirected to the FBI’s website. That’s even weirder. Someone DOES own this domain, but it’s pointed at the FBI? Is this actually a real government agency? Anomalous Investigations... Are they investigating THIS anomaly?
Now feeling a sudden spark of hope, Nathan scanned through the emails for anything else that could be useful. There! In the additional comments box, whoever had placed the order had written down a phone number and a separate email address to contact “in case of needed clarifications.” Well, he sure was in need of a clarification right about now.
The firewall, though, he remembered. It only lets through “business-related” communication. And if anyone gets too sneaky, they get a little visit from security. I think I’m stepping on some thin ice here, but this could be our chance to get help! If, you know, this isn’t ACTUALLY just a scammer.
- Call the number.
- Send an email.
- Don’t respond, but let Carlos know.
- Don’t respond and don’t tell Carlos. [What should Nathan do instead?]
[If he decides to contact the AIB, how should he communicate?]
- Try to be sneaky, but talk about what’s actually happening here.
- Stick strictly to business and pretend to ignore anything that isn’t.
(Winners: , )
- Call the number.
- Send an email.
- Don’t respond, but let Carlos know.
- Don’t respond and don’t tell Carlos. [What should Nathan do instead?]
[If he decides to contact the AIB, how should he communicate?]
- Try to be sneaky, but talk about what’s actually happening here.
- Stick strictly to business and pretend to ignore anything that isn’t.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 26
I know it’s usually not IT’s job to email a customer, but maybe I can at least let someone on the outside know I’m alive. As long as I don’t say anything non-business-related, it should be fine. Right?
He typed up a brief message asking if they were sure they actually wanted such a small quantity, then sent it before he could change his mind. Totally innocuous, except that he had allowed his normal email signature to be added. If anyone was out looking for him specifically, they’d know. And hopefully the email was still “business-y” enough to make it out. As a finishing touch, he closed the ticket with a note saying that the emails appeared legitimate, but it was a good thing they asked.
Nathan refreshed the queue to make sure nothing had come in while he was busy with the other tickets. Predictably, something had. He sighed and checked the details: a whole section of the smart lights on the roof were no longer available on the network. They could still be controlled manually, but refused to run their schedules from the network and were currently all stuck on. Sounds like one of the switches in the hut up there went bad, he decided. Guess I can go take a look. Nice to get out of the building every now and then, anyway.
He picked up his toolkit, a replacement switch, and one of the building master key sets - he’d need it to get into the telecom hut. After that, he booked it to the elevator and headed on up.
As the elevator rose, Nathan again frowned at the control panel. Floor 8 was still missing, obviously, and no one had given him a convincing explanation why. The elevator took twice as long to get from 7 to 9 as all the other floors, so presumably 8 did actually exist and just didn’t have a stop. He had even gone up the stairs from floor 7 and found a landing where floor 8 should have been, but no door. Not even the outline where a door once was. If there was a way into this mystery floor, it wouldn’t be easy to find.
Maybe there was some secret passage up from floor 7 or down from floor 9. That wouldn’t really surprise him, but exploring either of those floors in detail would be tricky. Floor 7 was the stacks, and given his last adventure there, he wasn’t exactly keen on fumbling through the dark with all the echoes around. Floor 9, however, was the executive suites. He had been there once, on his initial tour, but there wasn’t much to see. Just a shiny white-tiled lobby and then a set of locked smoked-glass doors. According to Carlos, no one had ever been into the actual executive suites or even seen the doors open. Not that anyone had ever tried too hard, given the constant presence of two uniformed security guards standing watch.
The elevator dinged and released Nathan onto the roof. He breathed deeply and stepped out.
The roof of the Hane Corp building had originally been all concrete and metal: just another normal skyscraper. However, a few years ago, it had been turned into a garden. The concrete and mechanical systems were still present, but mostly hidden between rows of ferns, trees, and crops. The group of people who had initially converted it reasoned that since they only had one outdoor space available, they might as well make it a nice place to be.
Nathan smiled at a fuzzy bumblebee making its way between some flowering plant he didn’t know the name of. They had certainly succeeded. The rooftop garden was a popular place to eat lunch, take breaks, or just sit around and enjoy the sun. In keeping with the other floors of the building, it was also far larger than it had any right to be, taking multiple minutes to walk from one side to the other. Thanks to the extra space, it never felt terribly crowded even though it was often occupied by dozens of people.
He nodded to some groundskeeper busily harvesting a row of strawberry plants, then made his way into the telecom hut. As suspected, one of the switches didn’t have any blinking lights. Nathan quickly unplugged all the existing cables, swapped in the replacement switch, and plugged everything back in. Good as new, probably. I should go check to make sure that worked.
He wandered out of the hut and headed across the roof to the affected section, confirming after a brief inspection that everything was in fact working properly now. Well that’s good. Guess I should go back downstairs now. He lingered a bit, instead folding his arms over the nearby railing and looking out over the city. Even though the Hane Corp building was only ten stories tall, it still rose higher than any of the hundred-story skyscrapers around it. No one had really figured that out either, but it certainly made for a great view.
“Oh, hello there, dearie.”
Nathan turned. “Mrs Tilbury! Didn’t see you there!”
The older woman stepped up beside him to look over the city as well. “Seems like you were doing some thinking. See anything interesting today?”
“Not too much. Just remembering.”
“You know, this place has changed a lot since I first got here. Twenty years looking out over the city from the same place.” She paused, staring out over the lake. “I wonder if this place will get taller if they build another new tower. Hard to know.”
“So... did you have anything in particular you wanted to talk about, or...? Since I am sort of on the job right now.”
“Always in such a rush. You weren’t doing anything just now, eh?” She chuckled. “But yes, I did see something interesting a minute ago. Do you happen to know why those two security officers from the ninth floor were in such a rush to get downstairs? I’ve rarely seen them so motivated.”
- Tell Mrs Tilbury about the email; ask for help.
- “I dunno. Well, I better get going.” [What should he do then?]
- The 9th floor is unguarded. Nathan has a master key. This chance may never come up again; make it happen.
(Winner: )
- Tell Mrs Tilbury about the email; ask for help.
- “I dunno. Well, I better get going.” [What should he do then?]
- The 9th floor is unguarded. Nathan has a master key. This chance may never come up again; make it happen.
(Winner: )
3
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@Story Notifications
Scene 27
“Wait, the ones who always guard the door? They’re gone?”
“For now, yes. They’ll probably be back soon. Why?”
Nathan quickly glanced down at his belt. The master keys were still there. No time to think; just time to act. “Mrs Tilbury, can you come with me to the ninth floor, right now?” He started moving as he spoke.
“Well, of course, dear. You certainly seem determined; what are you planning on doing?”
He hurried into one of the staircases dotted around the roof, holding the door for the older woman. “No one’s ever been in the executive suites because the door’s locked and there are always guards, right? There has to be something important in there. Right now, there are no guards and I’ve got master keys. We might never have this chance again.”
“Nathan, dear, are you sure about this? If you get caught...”
“It’s worth the risk.” He hesitated. “I think. Plus, I may have an idea what they’re doing downstairs anyway.” He shoved open the stairwell door and stepped onto the ninth floor. Still no guards; just that long, white-tiled hallway and those smoked-glass double doors at the end. “Can you stand watch here and let me know when they’re coming back? Delay them as much as you can, but don’t get in trouble yourself. Okay?”
“O-okay. Do be careful. No one knows what’s in there.”
“That’s the point! Gotta hurry.” Nathan jogged the rest of the way to the doors, then pulled the masters off his belt. Here goes. A brief pause to desperately hope they would fit in the lock, then he tried the first key of the pair. Nope. The second key.
Click.
The handle turned and the door opened. Nathan stumbled back a step, shocked that it had actually worked. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he told Mrs Tilbury, then slipped through and closed the door behind him.
He did a double take. The smoked-glass doors behind him hung suspended in an empty black void, no walls or ceiling binding them. He could walk around behind them, if the floor extended that far. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like it did. The floor was exactly the same pure black color as the background void, but every movement he made sent little ripples through the material like water in a pond. These ripples stopped and bounced back at the doors, but extended far into the room itself.
The room was wide-open and dotted with dozens of perfectly rectangular, pure white pillars. Each pillar stood flush with the invisible floor and held four large pieces of framed artwork, one per side. Nathan stepped closer to the nearest one, curious, but couldn’t pull any meaning out of the seemingly random blotches of color splashed onto each canvas.
As he moved, another object was revealed between all the pillars: a perfectly rectangular, pure white door about fifty feet away. Even from here, Nathan could read the pristine white letters etched into the smoky black plaque labeling it: “HENRY HANE.”
The double doors quietly clicked behind him. Nathan spun around and tugged at the handles to no avail: they wouldn’t budge and there wasn’t a keyhole on this side. The glass was too opaque to see through. He was trapped.
Okay, this is fine. Don’t panic. There’s got to be another way out of this. Probably. Maybe another door if I just look around? Ah, gotcha. Peeking around a few more pillars, Nathan was able to make out two more perfectly rectangular, pure white doors hanging in space. One had a matching plaque to Henry’s, etched with the name “WINGATE PABODIE.” The other was labeled with a more plain black, “SECURITY.”
Outside, back in the ninth floor lobby, two grey-uniformed guards passed Mrs Tilbury in the hallway and returned to their post. One of them moved its head in a questioning manner, motioning at the set of double doors.
“Yes, he went in,” she confirmed. “Just as you said.”
The guard nodded and gestured towards the stairs. Mrs Tilbury half-raised her hand, about to say something else, then silently turned and left.
- “HENRY.”
❔ - “WINGATE.”
️ - “SECURITY.”
(Winner: )
- “HENRY.”
❔ - “WINGATE.”
️ - “SECURITY.”
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 28
Nathan crept forward through the room towards the door that presumably led to Henry Hane’s office. The man was the founder and CEO of Hane Corp, but he had to be dead by now, right? He had appeared very old in the VHS tape from years ago and would likely be close to a hundred years old were he still alive today. The fact that he was ostensibly still leading the company but hadn’t been seen by anyone currently working there seemed to suggest that someone (or something) had quietly taken over. So who (or what) was he going to find in the office?
He pressed down on the handle. The door clicked open. Nathan slipped into the room.
Henry’s office was quiet and dark, but at least it had walls and a floor. A large, ornate wooden desk squatted on the far side of the room, a tall executive chair facing the wall behind it. The desk held a few framed pictures facing away from Nathan, an old laptop long-since run out of battery, a single sheet of paper, and a pen. A lamp and a few cabinets loomed out of the shadows; Nathan clicked on the lamp and poked through the cabinets on his way to the desk.
Instead of the ledgers, balance sheets, reports, or other business-related documents he had been expecting, the cabinets invariably held one of two things. Those on the left side of the room contained hundreds of loose sheets of paper all marked with strange diagrams and unusual symbols. Most were scribbled or crossed out, some alongside notes like “will never work,” “too weak,” or just “NO.” While Nathan was entirely unfamiliar with the drawings and symbols, he noted that they sort of resembled magic glyphs or circles from some of the games he had played before getting stuck in Hane Corp.
The cabinets on the right side of the room held dozens of binders of larger sheets, all containing printouts of blueprints for some incomprehensibly complicated machine. Each of the binders was titled as “Hane-Pabodie Dimensional Sequestering Device” and labeled with a revision number. Quickly digging through the binders, Nathan found up to revision 72, which appeared to be the last one. He skimmed through the contents, skipping over the diagrams themselves but growing more and more concerned with the comments accompanying them.
“This is it. The last one,” someone had written. “We won’t have time for 73; if this doesn’t work, we have to go with the backup plan. I have to have faith that this one will work. The major change wasn’t to the core system or even any of the main loops: it was just refining and tightening up the auxiliary seals. We’ve already started production. I can only hope it’s not too late.”
Later on, another comment had been added next to a rushed correction on one of the blueprints. “Too much pressure in the secondary loop due to the fixed seals! There’s no time for a full revision; we’re changing out the loop material on the fly. No time to test. Just faith that it will work.”
Towards the back of the binder, another note had been scribbled near a diagram of what looked like a control panel. “We’re moving the controls downstairs, all but one. Too risky to keep anything in the main building; the conduits can’t be trusted to stretch that far for so long. The only control left in the building is the emergency shutdown switch in my office. Just in case the solution ends up being worse than the problem.”
The final note in the binder had been hurriedly scrawled onto the rear cover. “Activation was successful. It’s FURIOUS with us, but it can’t get out. We did it. The DSD will last for hundreds of years at its current rate, and even longer if the thing stops smashing at the walls. Now I’ve finally undone the mistake I made all those years ago. As long as no one digs their way into the Cistern before the DSD has finished its program, we’ve done it. It won’t be able to escape again.” There was a several-line break before the second part of the note in smaller, shakier handwriting near the bottom of the page. “I just wish we hadn’t had to activate it today of all days. But it’s all worth it in the end.”
Nathan put down the binder. He stood there for several moments, thinking. Then he rounded the desk and carefully turned the chair to face him.
An old, dusty skeleton grinned from the seat, several loose bones clattering to the floor from the movement. Nathan closed his eyes for a moment. He had expected this, really. Presumably this pile of bones was Henry Hane himself. That still didn’t make it pleasant. He turned to the desk.
The pictures all showed someone Nathan recognized as Henry, though younger than his appearance in the VHS tape, alongside various other people. One photo showed Henry arm-in-arm with a shorter man wearing glasses and a fuzzy sweater. Both were grinning happily. Another showed Henry and two children - a boy and a girl both probably less than 10 years old - wearing lifejackets on a fishing boat. He had a hand on each kid’s shoulder and was proudly watching them hold a fishing pole together. A third photo showed Henry with the same kids at an outdoor table, all digging into a funnel cake. The last photo had been knocked over at some point, but showed Henry and the glasses-wearing man alongside two younger adults - a man and a woman who were clearly a couple - seemingly in an auditorium or theater.
Nathan frowned; clearly Henry had been a family man. He wondered who the other people in the pictures were, and if they were still alive.
To complete his inspection of the room, he looked down and read the single sheet of paper on the desk. It was written in hard-to-decipher legal language, but he figured the gist of it was an incident report that had apparently resulted in someone’s death. The “details” section was blank, reading only “to be filled out by supervisor,” but the “deceased” section had a name printed in blocky characters: “WINGATE PABODIE.”
Nathan glanced at the skeleton again, shuddering. “What did you do?” he whispered.
[Pick one from each block]
️ - Search for the emergency shutdown switch.
⁉️ - Search for, and press, the emergency shutdown switch.
- Do nothing.
- Take the DSD r72 plans.
️ - Take DSD r72 and as many other documents as he can carry. [Specify anything in particular you want to take.]
- Do nothing.
❔ - Leave and investigate Wingate’s office.
️ - Leave and investigate the Security door.
- Leave and return to the double doors.
(Winners: ️ , , ❔ )
️ - Search for the emergency shutdown switch.
⁉️ - Search for, and press, the emergency shutdown switch.
- Do nothing.
- Take the DSD r72 plans.
️ - Take DSD r72 and as many other documents as he can carry. [Specify anything in particular you want to take.]
- Do nothing.
❔ - Leave and investigate Wingate’s office.
️ - Leave and investigate the Security door.
- Leave and return to the double doors.
(Winners: ️ , , ❔ )
9
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@Story Notifications
Scene 29
Nathan spent the next several minutes checking every corner of Henry’s office for the emergency shutdown switch promised in the DSD binder. It was fairly well-hidden, but he eventually tracked it down behind a fake section of wall half-covered by one of the cabinets. He only noticed because the wall and fake paneling were made of different materials and one had changed color over the years.
The switch certainly looked like what Nathan thought an emergency shutdown switch should look like: yellow and black striped warning tape, a glass-encased big red button, and a hand scanner to open the case. There was a warning label affixed to the back of the compartment. Nathan brushed some dust away to read it, accidentally touching the hand scanner while doing so. The electronics all lit up and beeped harshly, announcing “No match. Try again.” He yanked his hand back, glaring at the scanner, then read the label in the better light it provided.
“EMERGENCY DSD SHUTDOWN SWITCH.
“This control may only be operated by the current CEO of Hane Mining Corporation, or their designated proxy. All designated proxies MUST be briefed on the effects of activating this switch before being designated as such by the CEO. For safety, there is a one-minute activation delay after activating the switch; press the switch twice more in rapid succession during this delay to cancel activation.
“In the event that the CEO and all designated proxies are unavailable, any direct genetic descendant of the current CEO may override the activation policy by placing their hand on the scanner and pressing firmly on the panel. This will start the process to change the currently designated CEO.
“In the event that the CEO, all designated proxies, and all direct genetic descendants of the current CEO are all unavailable, the suggested course of action is to refrain from operating this switch.
“Current designated officers (last updated: 10/2004) -
“HENRY HANE (CEO)
“WINGATE PABODIE (PROXY)”
Nathan stepped back. Guess I can’t activate the shutdown even if I wanted to, with all those notes about keeping something horrible trapped in here. And Henry, well... He glanced at the skeleton. It still hadn’t moved. He certainly can’t either. And that incident report - I’ll probably need to find a “direct descendant” of Henry. Maybe the people in those pictures? This switch has gotta be our way out of this building, though. Maybe Wingate’s office has some more clues?
He picked up the DSD revision 72 binder and left the office, leaving the shutdown switch uncovered. Another brief walk across the strange invisible floor and he made his way into the door marked with Wingate’s name.
Wingate’s office was of similar size to Henry’s, but much more cluttered. Tables and desks were jammed in wherever they would fit, leaving only a few walkways to the door. Every available surface was covered in diagrams, tools, or partially-assembled mechanical contraptions. Clearly Wingate had been the technical side of the team. Even the walls weren’t spared; they were all covered in whiteboards with old un-erased drawings and lists competing for space. The only area without anything of note was the rear wall. Not because there wasn’t anything there; just because whatever was there wasn’t important.
Nathan blinked several times. His head hurt. He turned his attention back to the tables, quickly shaking off the sudden headache.
Many of the diagrams and assemblies had to do with optics of some sort, but most of these seemed to be older and buried under more recent projects. The newer materials seemed to be focused almost entirely on a substance called “lacre,” whatever that was, and how to safely contain it. There were a lot of notes and theories, but most of them were scribbled out or written in such convoluted language that Nathan couldn’t make anything of them. He came out of the mess more confused than when he went in, heading for the largest desk near the back of the room.
There wasn’t much new here; just more crossed-out research notes in most of the drawers. One in the bottom left held something weightier, though, and Nathan pulled it out. He opened the cardboard box to reveal a band that resembled a thick metallic bracelet with a flexible screen built into it. A series of thin, needle-like spikes lined the inner surface, seemingly designed to pierce into the wrist of whoever wore the thing. Nathan set the bracelet down, grimacing, and read what he could from accompanying papers that weren’t already scribbled out.
“VitaBand 4 FIS - prototype by Dr Wingate Pabodie.
“I still haven’t solved the biggest issue - namely, the lace-beast transformation. If only Bolte had actually developed that serum, this band might be able to-” The sentence abruptly stopped there.
“Switching focus to provide additional control over lacre-blooded individuals’ abilities, rather than infusing new subjects. Unfortunately, testing this is... difficult. We only have one known subject and she is - understandably! - reluctant to undergo any procedures. Must find more. The DSD traps it in here with us. We MUST be able to harness it.” In lighter writing, the next line continued, “I swear, sometimes I sound like a mad scientist. ‘harness’ this, ‘we MUST’ that; I need to get a grip.”
“We’ve reopened the mines. We had to. The important controls are down there, and it’s destroying us without them. As a side effect, one of the workers fell prey to a lacre drip. I was able to get him assigned as a subject for my work on the new VitaBand; maybe I can save him. Must work harder.”
“Andrew has been talking in his sleep again. I swear the lacre is speaking through him via dreams. It must know I’m listening. It speaks of the Factory and Bolte’s influence. He’s seeking someone; a new individual who can wield the lacre’s power for him. How I wish I could visit the old place. I know so much more now. I could fix it.” In lighter, smaller letters: “the override switch is in Henry’s office. I could... no.”
That was all. Everything else was illegible. Nathan frowned; there was a lot to unpack in those few pages. Lacre, VitaBands, some place called “The Factory.” It all sounded crazy, but, well, nothing really sounded crazy to him anymore.
Wingate’s skeleton wasn’t here. He scanned the whole room again, checking if he had missed anything. Nothing on the tables. Nothing in the desks. Nothing on the side walls. Nothing except that unimportant thing on the rear wall. Headache. Okay. So what had happened to Wingate? Had he just... died in an “incident” like Henry’s form had said? What was all this about lacre and the VitaBand? Who were these “subjects?”
Nathan shook his head. He needed to find someone to talk to about all this. Someone who knew about lacre and VitaBands and Factories and all the other crazy nonsense in this room. Too bad he didn’t know anyone like that.
- Take the VitaBand 4 FIS prototype.
- Wear the VitaBand 4 FIS prototype.
- Do nothing.
️ - Leave and investigate the Security door.
- Leave and return to the double doors.
(Winners: , ️ )
- Take the VitaBand 4 FIS prototype.
- Wear the VitaBand 4 FIS prototype.
- Do nothing.
️ - Leave and investigate the Security door.
- Leave and return to the double doors.
(Winners: , ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 30
Still unable to really explain any of the new revelations, Nathan headed back out into the strange pillar room and made his way over to the one remaining door: the one labeled as “Security.” While he was a little apprehensive to potentially run into a guard, this place had been very quiet so far and maybe he’d find some more information on how they operated. Were they originally humans, constructed robots, printed like the monsters they fought, or something else entirely? Any information would be good information. Plus, he couldn’t exactly just leave the way he came in.
The door opened as easily as the previous two and Nathan pushed quietly through. He found himself in yet another dark room, though much more echoey and cavernous based on the sounds of his footsteps. He fumbled along the wall and managed to locate and flip a light switch, then suppressed a sharp inhale at what was revealed.
Dozens of security guards stood motionless on little glass pedestals, two rows on either side of the main walkway through the room. They seemed... deactivated, not even breathing. Actually, do the guards breathe? I never really noticed. Their faces were still obscured in shadow.
A loud whirring noise sounded from the opposite end of the room and a wide bar of light swept under the semi-transparent floor like a giant scanner bed. Nathan stepped back to the door, but the light stopped and reversed several feet in front of him, merely passing under the glass pedestals and causing them to glow. Each pedestal’s light faded fifteen seconds or so after the bar had moved on, passing a gentle breeze up to the linked guard and rustling their uniform. Nothing else seemed to happen.
Concerned, but still needing to find a way out of here, Nathan stepped forward and resolved to try and jump over the scanner bar if it came back. He didn’t know what it would do to him, but given his experiences in this building so far, probably nothing good.
The rows of guards stretched on and on as he jogged through the space, his footsteps echoing in the emptiness. He frowned, thinking. If this room is full of guards, why did those two at the door not get replaced? It’s been several minutes. Can the guards here not wake up? Maybe they just thought no one would dare break in. Can’t say I thought I would.
The end of the rows of guards finally came into view after what must have been hundreds of the things. Nathan slowed, looking for the scanner bar, and located it rushing back in his direction. He braced himself, then leapt over as it passed by. Nothing happened. He glanced back and sighed in relief, then continued forward.
Where the guard pedestals ended, something else began: a series of eight large glass tanks, each a bit larger than a normal bathtub, half-buried in the floor. Bundles of wires and tubes connected these tanks to the ceiling that didn’t really seem to exist; the conduits just faded smoothly from view after ten feet or so. Nathan stepped closer to the nearest one to investigate.
The tank held traces of some dried silver-white liquid and bore deep scratches on the inside of its lid, presumably from some unwilling occupant. He couldn’t make heads or tails of its operation, and didn’t find a name or manufacturer’s label anywhere. Just another mystery to add to the pile. Wait. He glanced down the line as one of the last tanks made a gurgling noise. That one’s not empty.
Carefully, he approached. The eighth tank in the line was filled with silver-white liquid, churning and flowing in from the tubes in the ceiling. There was something inside, submerged in the liquid, but it was too opaque to tell any specifics. At least, until a seemingly human arm broke the liquid’s surface for just a moment, slapping against the lid before re-submerging. Nathan stepped back, somewhere between just regular nervous and flat-out terrified. That arm had been human at its base, yes, but distorted and elongated more than enough to give him pause. Was there actually an unlucky human in there, perhaps being transformed into something else, or was it just another monster?
He knelt next to the tank. There was a control panel, and he figured he could probably operate it. At least, enough to open the thing. But did he dare?
[This is a branch point. One of the two options will lock out one (and only one) ending to the story. The other option will not. Neither option is potentially deadly.]
- Open the tank.
- Leave it closed.
(Winner: A tie! was chosen by a pseudorandom robotic god)
- Open the tank.
- Leave it closed.
(Winner: A tie! was chosen by a pseudorandom robotic god)
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@Story Notifications
Scene 31
... Yeah, he did. He was close to something here. The DSD binders. Wingate’s research notes. Lacre. The emergency shutdown switch. He had a lot of pieces and just needed to put them together. Whatever was in this tank could be the last missing piece. Or it could actually be a human sealed to a terrible fate. Saving them would be more than worth the risk.
Nathan set down the binder and jammed the VitaBand prototype into a pocket, then examined the control panel. Most of the buttons didn’t make any sense, but he didn’t need to operate the thing. He just needed to open it, and was able to figure that out in under a minute’s worth of attempts. There was a loud gurgling noise as the liquid started to drain, then a hissing sound as seals released and gas vented. Nathan stood up and backed away, grabbing the binder again. Didn’t want to lose that.
The lid released and popped open. Several seconds passed as the last of the liquid drained away before a large, sharp, charcoal-black hand grasped onto the side of the tank. A long, spindly arm joined it. Finally, the thing sat up and Nathan uttered a wordless exclamation as he saw what passed for its head. Just an inch up its neck, skin transitioned seamlessly into a glittering metal tube that flared out into a bell, like that of a tuba or similar brass instrument. The rest of the creature was generally humanoid, but thin, angular, and almost stretched. Muscles moved like worms under the skin and it towered almost eight feet tall. The thing stepped out of the tank and angled its bell towards Nathan, emitting a low musical note.
He stepped back another few steps, utterly unsure what to say or do. Was it hostile? “Hey, uh...” He trailed off, unable to find the right words to finish his sentence.
The bell-head blew another short sequence of notes from its head and took a step forward. It placed both hands on its bell and felt around, as if unsure what its head shape was. Another brief series of honks.
“Are you... okay? Friendly?”
The towering creature returned its attention to Nathan and knelt down, placing one hand on the floor. Its fingers were almost twice as long as they should be and tapered to sharp, talon-like points.
“Are you a human? Were you trapped in Hane Corp? How did you get in that tank?”
A whirring sound. Nathan glanced back, eyes widening as he saw the scanner bar moving quickly towards them. “Jump over it!” he exclaimed, doing exactly that.
The bell-head barely had enough time to get up from kneeling before the scanner bar passed under its similarly sharp and elongated feet. The light immediately flashed red and a harsh, blaring alarm sounded. The nearest sets of guards unfroze and stepped off their pedestals, shaking their heads and pulling out batons.
“No, no, no-” Nathan spun around as more guards stepped down. It would be suicide to try and fight. He backed away as they marched towards him.
The bell-head bellowed a trumpeting roar and dashed forward, smashing through the first line of guards with ease. Several managed to score hits with their batons, but the bursts of electricity didn’t seem to do much harm. It moved faster than the scanner bar, outpacing the currently active guards and making it past the rest before they could wake up. In moments, it had disappeared into the darkness. Half the guards chased after it, while the other half hemmed in Nathan.
“Uh, I just... got lost?”
A flash of white light and a burst of electric pain. He passed out.
Nathan woke up some time later in the stairwell. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. No one was around. What happened? The creature ran off, then... wait, they just LEFT me here? They let me go?! WHAT?!
He got to his feet and took stock. There was no door and no sign on this landing; it must be the one for the missing eighth floor. The binder for the Dimensional Sequestering Device was missing, but he still had the VitaBand prototype and the rest of his stuff. There were no guards and he wasn’t even seriously hurt; just a little jittery from the stun baton. Wait, Mrs Tilbury!
Nathan shook his head and jogged up the steps to the ninth floor. Two security guards stood by the double doors he had so recently bypassed, but neither acknowledged him. Mrs Tilbury was nowhere to be seen. “What is going ON?” he said aloud. No one answered.
[You can influence what Nathan says to whoever he ends up locating in #story_discussion.]
- Look for Mrs Tilbury.
️ - Get ahold of Carlos.
- Go find Katy.
(Winner: ️ )
- Look for Mrs Tilbury.
️ - Get ahold of Carlos.
- Go find Katy.
(Winner: ️ )
2
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@Story Notifications
Scene 32
“When you finish with those server upgrades,” Nathan typed into a message to Carlos, “I sure have some important info to share.” After some consideration, he added, “Please hurry if you can.”
He headed back downstairs, leaving the guards at the door to their post.
...
Two and a half hours later, Nathan had finally finished explaining everything that had happened since Carlos had left this morning. The email from the AIB, the ticket about the lights, Mrs Tilbury and the master keys, and finally everything he had found on the ninth floor. Henry’s skeleton, the shutdown switch, and the DSD plans. Wingate’s office and the VitaBand. The rows of guards, the scanner bar, and the towering bell-headed monstrosity. Everything.
“Wow.” Carlos gave a long, drawn-out exhale. “I don’t even know where to start.” Another pause. “Actually, yes I do. After all these years, you finally found a way to get us out of here. I’m certain that shutdown switch will release us from the building, along with whatever else it’s containing.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I have no idea. One of the many horrifying monstrosities from the mines? Whatever’s controlling the guards? Something more abstract? I don’t know, but we need to figure it out. But we can’t use the switch without someone authorized to activate it, which you said was Henry himself - dead - Wingate Pabodie - also dead, presumably, or a direct genetic descendant?”
“That’s what it said. Is there a way to figure out who might be a descendant of Henry? Do we know if he had any children? I saw some pictures in his office, but-”
“I’m not well-acquainted with the Hane family tree, but we can at least take a look around the directory. Maybe there’s a Hane trapped in here with us.”
Nathan frowned. “Wouldn’t someone related to the founder of the company be pretty important in here? Wouldn’t we already know about them?”
Carlos shrugged. “Probably. But it’s free to look, and we don’t have many leads right now. If no one in here is related to Henry - or worse, if he died childless - that button isn’t going to work. So it’s worth at least a check.”
“I guess. But I’m not holding out hope. I think we’re going to have to find some way around that requirement... Why are you smiling?” Carlos motioned for Nathan to come around and look at the screen. He did so, reading the directory search result. “Three Hanes in the directory? How did no one notice or care before now?”
“This isn’t what the results looked like the last time I made this search,” Carlos explained. “Something changed, and my guess is it’s whatever you just did on the ninth floor. We’re unlocking more secrets here.”
“So we have to be careful.”
“Yep. But look here. ‘Henry Hane - deceased.’ Previously it had said he was active. And then two confidential Hanes, one deceased and one actively employed!” Let me just elevate to unlock those files real quick...
As Carlos typed into the terminal, Nathan stared at the two Hanes and their grey question mark pictures. Both were listed as “*** Hane - CONFIDENTIAL,” and exactly as Carlos had said, one was listed as “Employed - Active.” How had no one noticed? Or was the system lying again?
“Hm, that’s odd. It’s not displaying, even though...” Carlos trailed off, opened another window, and typed in several more commands, frowning.
“Something wrong?”
“Those files are locked, and even I can’t override it. I’m root on every system involved, and it just keeps saying ‘access denied.’ Someone’s redacting the details beyond our normal procedures. This is very strange.”
Nathan leaned down, as if he could make sense of the command-line jargon littering Carlos’ screen. “Is there any way we can get even higher privileges? Override even more than we already are?”
“Hmmm... Well, the only other people with access to files like this is HR. It’s possible that someone there put a lock on it that I can’t override. Very unlikely, though, since they don’t have root on these servers...” He trailed off into mumbling. “But there’s one other way. Do you remember that story I told you on your first day? About why the IT department was only one person before you came along?”
“Something about an expedition downstairs to the core routers, and then security took everyone away?”
“That’s the one. What would you say if I told you we could definitely get into this record if we had physical access to the server it was stored on? Downstairs, that is.”
“I’d say ‘are you crazy?’ Look what happened last time!”
“Last time we were going after the core routers. This time we’re only looking at the directory server. It’s different!” Under his breath, he muttered, “I hope.”
“And what about the monsters guarding the datacenter?”
“Different datacenter; less secure. Fewer monsters. Probably.”
“You don’t sound very sure about this.”
“I’m not. But it’s the best idea I’ve got if we want this information.”
- Check with HR. Might as well, right?
- Plan an expedition downstairs. Get that file.
- Maybe they don’t actually need that file. Work on that printer takeover instead.
(Winner: )
- Check with HR. Might as well, right?
- Plan an expedition downstairs. Get that file.
- Maybe they don’t actually need that file. Work on that printer takeover instead.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 33
“Maybe we should check with the not-deadly-monsters in HR before trying to do something super dangerous? Just an idea.”
“Heh! Yeah, fair.” Carlos checked the time. “Looks like they’ll still be open for another half hour if you want to head up there now.”
“Why not? Better than just sitting here refreshing the queue.”
Human Resources was just one floor up, so there wasn’t even a need to take the elevator. The area had the same “normal office” appearance as the fourth floor, except with slightly more upscale decor. Plants, frosted glass dividers, windows that physically could not possibly lead outside, but provided sunlight and city views anyway. HR itself wasn’t the entire floor; most of the Acquisitions department worked here too. Imports and exports were the largest subteams, with HR positioned a little farther from the main elevators.
“Hey, Nathan,” someone whispered.
Nathan turned to see a handsomely-disheveled man poking his head out from a nearby cubicle and waving him over. “Uh, hi?”
“It’s about that email. Earlier today?”
“Oh. Uh, Carlos, I’ll just be a minute. Okay?”
“Take your time. Just meet me over there once you’re done.”
Nathan headed over to the cubicle and stepped in; the man looked familiar. “Have I met you before? In person?”
“Yeah, of course! You don’t remember me?”
“Uh-”
The man pretended to look crushed, then bounced back up. “Damian Floros; I was on the bus with you when we first showed up. Got stunned by the security guards together. Good times.”
“R-right. I remember now.” Damian had been one of the four people who had gone with him upstairs to try and find a way out. Katy had been one of the others, but he didn’t remember the other two. Hadn’t seen them since. “So you work in exports now?”
“Yep. It’s my natural charm.” He winked. “But anyway, don’t think I’m an idiot. I can put two and two together, and I saw who was ordering those metals. The purchase went through and the financial details confirm it’s actually someone from the US government on the other side of this transaction.” He took a breath and lowered his voice. “I told my supervisor too, and the rumor’s already spreading. Look, I hear you and Carlos are doing some crazy things in IT trying to get us out of here. Is the ‘Anomalous Investigations Bureau’ going to rescue us? What’s going on?”
“I don’t... actually know anything more than you about the email or the AIB. I’m hoping they can help, but... well, would you trust the government to do anything useful?”
“Fair point, fair point.” Damian nodded sagely. “But I’m just letting you know that this is a big deal and people are talking about it. About you. There are rumors about you and Carlos trying to control the printers, about you surviving a monster attack in the Stacks; even something about getting into the ninth floor? I don’t know how many of these are true, but people are getting very excited about you in particular. Starting to think we might actually get out of this. Starting to have hope again.”
“That’s, uh, very flattering, but I don’t know if I’m actually... well, doing anything useful. I don’t know if I can actually help anybody.”
“Oh, shush. If any of those rumors are true, you definitely can.” He paused. “Are any of them true? Aside from the email, at least.”
“Well... maybe a little?”
Damian laughed. “See? You’re doing crazy things here. I’m sure you’ll be able to get us out of here - and you let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I’ve got kids on the outside, and... yeah. Would be... real nice to get back to them.”
“I’ll do my best. Now-” His phone vibrated. On a whim, he decided to check it before returning to Carlos. It was an email responding to his question from just a few hours ago; someone at the AIB had gotten his message and replied.
“Nathan,
All the quantities requested are correct. My team is working on a few internal projects here; these are for the prototypes. I anticipate more significant orders within the next few weeks. In the meantime, we’re working on research and development. So please have patience with us as we work out the details. Our team is hoping to order from you again soon. Kindly go ahead and send the orders as requested.
Thanks, Allie
Alison Ortiez
Special Agent, AIB”
Damian leaned closer as he saw Nathan’s expression. “What’cha got there?”
[You can also influence what Nathan thinks or shares about this email in #story_discussion.]
- Show him.
- “Nothing.”
(Winner: )
- Show him.
- “Nothing.”
(Winner: )
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Scene 34
He turned the phone towards Damian so the other man could read it. “A response from this morning.”
“Whoa.” Damian scanned the email. “Looks promising - real promising. ‘These are the prototypes,’ ‘next few weeks,’ ‘working on research,’ ‘order from you again soon?’ If you read between the lines, this seems a lot like a disguised message that they’re going to help us! These emails are the prototypes to figure out if they can contact us at all, they’re working on research to help get us out, and they’re hoping to ‘order’ more in the next few weeks!”
“Just disguised as business talk to get past the filters...” Nathan stared at the phone screen, reading through the message again. “Yeah, I can see it. I think - I think you’re right. They know what’s going on and they’re trying to figure it out. We’ve got someone on the outside looking for us!”
“See? Crazy stuff,” Damian reiterated. “This is the closest we’ve ever gotten to getting out of this place, even since the first people were trapped here. Somehow we’re making progress. Now, we just have to help them get us out.”
“Yeah, yeah...” Nathan frowned at his phone. Something didn’t seem right about the message; the sentences were too short and choppy. Hidden subtext... Secret messages. What else could be hiding in- With a flash, he got it. The most basic kind of hidden code: the first letters of every sentence! Amiisok. “Ami is ok.” They know Ami. And they know that I know her! How... His eyes widened as he realized he had heard this agent’s name before. Years ago, but not many.
“Hey, what’s going on? You’ve been down all day,” he asked.
“It’s nothing.” Ami turned away to hide her face, but not fast enough. She had been crying.
“It’s not nothing. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay; it’s just that...” He hesitated. “Something’s obviously bothering you and I hate seeing you upset. Can I help?”
She sighed, thinking. Nathan gave her some time. Finally, she spoke. “Today is my sister’s birthday.”
Nathan stayed quiet. That wasn’t the whole story, clearly.
“She... she went missing. Four years ago now. Did you hear about the disappearances from the college back then? No? Well, she was one of them. The other - Allie Ortiez - she came back. But my sister? Sam? No. Gone forever.”
“I’m sorry; I didn’t know...”
“Yeah, of course you didn’t. I never told you.” Ami sighed unsteadily. “Most of the time, I’m over it. It’s like if you lose someone to cancer or a car crash, right? It hurts, but you move on. I know she’s not coming back. But... sometimes I just remember. Her birthday. The day she disappeared. When I see someone who looks like her. And then I just lose it again.”
He put his arms around her, not really sure what to say. She pressed back into him. “And I still don’t know what happened to her. That’s the worst part. I know Allie knows, but she just won’t tell me. She’s my SISTER; I have a RIGHT to know how - how...” Her voice broke. “How she died.”
Nathan snapped back to the present, shaking his head to clear it. Was this AIB agent the same Allie? Almost certainly; there couldn’t possibly be that many people with that name who knew his girlfriend and were involved in mysterious disappearances. Well, this Allie had made it out of one crazy anomaly already, so maybe she could help Nathan get out of this one too. Even though she apparently hadn’t been able to do the same for Sam. At least Ami’s okay, he thought guiltily. I hadn’t even really considered how she’d be doing after I vanished. Not that I could have done anything about it, but still.
“Dude, you okay? You were kind of spacing out there.”
“Huh? Sorry, I was just, uh, thinking.”
Damian raised an eyebrow. “Okay, sure. Anyway, you let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with all this secret government rescue operation stuff, okay?”
“Gotcha. Will do.” He turned to follow Carlos. “Thanks, Damian.” Things are looking up.
“Sorry, Nathan, I have bad news.”
“What?”
Carlos pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the woman at the desk he had just been talking to. “Director Coleman can’t get at those files either and doesn’t know of any locks placed by anyone up here. Nope, these files were locked down by the system itself, or by something in the datacenter. I hate the idea as much as you do, but if we want to know who that one remaining Hane is, we’re gonna have to go downstairs.” He chuckled lightly. “So, how do you feel about that expedition?”
- “Let’s do this.”
- “Count me out, but go ahead.”
- “Call the whole thing off. We don’t need those files.”
(Winner: )
- “Let’s do this.”
- “Count me out, but go ahead.”
- “Call the whole thing off. We don’t need those files.”
(Winner: )
7
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@Story Notifications
Scene 35
“So, what’d you think?” Ella asked, kicking her boots off and folding her legs up on the seat.
Allie blinked and turned away from the car window. “Huh?”
Ella sighed. “I asked what you thought. You know, about Zeke? You really do a lot of spacing out, huh?”
“Sorry. He was nice. It was just kind of... weird? I just met him today; it feels wrong to be talking about myself so much.”
“Yeah, I get that. It’ll feel more normal as you get to know each other. But I’m glad you’re at least willing to give it a chance; I’m honestly shocked they didn’t make you see a therapist. My boss did.”
She shrugged self-consciously. “When you’re literally the only person in the world who can do the things I can, people have a hard time saying no.”
“I get that too. I can’t even do half your magic lacre stuff, but everyone who doesn’t know me personally still acts so careful! Like I’m going to bite their head off if they insult me. You’ve probably got it worse, though; at least I’m just weird, not mission-critical.”
“Yeah...” She sighed and shuffled on her seat. Something rattled in her bag. “Ugh, and they gave me another bunch of pills to try. Seriously, I agreed to the therapy thing; why do I have to take these too?”
“They think it’ll help you. Don’t you want to stop having those panic attacks?”
Allie frowned, looking away. “Yeah, but-”
“Come on, you’ve only been following the doctors’ advice for... ten days? Ten days now. We’re making progress! We just gotta stick with it.” She bumped Allie’s shoulder. “And I’ll be here to help you out, as long as it takes.”
“Oh, alright. Fine.” Allie relented, smiling briefly. “I’ll take these before you go. Satisfied?”
“Not until I watch ‘em go down!”
A few minutes later, the two of them stepped out of the car, thanked the driver, and headed upstairs to Allie’s apartment. Buttercream greeted them at the door, chirping happily and headbutting Allie’s legs. She smiled and knelt to pet him. “Hey, Butt. Ella, how long are you here, again?”
“Half an hour; squad’s picking me up for an evening out. You want to come?”
“No thanks. I’ve got some games scheduled for tonight already. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be just moping around. I do have some friends.”
“Heh. Gamer girl Allie, right? Glad to see it’s not all work all the time.”
“You’ve been here almost a week now; you know I’m not like that!”
“Right. I was just checking.” She poked through the fridge to find a pitcher of lemonade. “I know you, Al. Hey, speaking of work, how’s your search for Hane Corp going? Figure out where that building went yet?”
“Ugh, not yet. But we’re making progress!” She sat down at the table and accepted a glass, gently pushing Buttercream away so he wouldn’t stick his face in it. “Using the - what did they call it - the harmonic signature? of the lacre in the printer, we were able to calibrate our sensors to pick up some residue from a much larger structure. The building’s there, El, superimposed on the real one. It’s just invisible and intangible, and way bigger than we thought. I’m not sure if we can bring it back into reality, or if we even want to. It might level a few city blocks if it stays that big.”
“Yikes. So it’s lacre doing this again, somehow? Is there anything that stuff can’t do?”
She shrugged. “Beats me. I’ve got it for blood and I still have no idea how it works. I assume it’s involved somehow, because otherwise why would the lacre from the printer be relevant? Anyway, the analysts are running some sort of sequencer on the readings they’re getting from the residue, trying to find a key or something? I’m gonna be honest: the stuff they’re doing is so far out of my league I don’t even know why they tell me about it. I get some of the weird lacre-science stuff, but nothing this advanced.”
“It’s just magic, hey?”
“You said it. Oh, I also finally told Ami that I have a lead on Nathan. I didn’t say anything about Hane Corp or what specifically we’re doing, but I didn’t want her to think we’d forgotten. She was... frustrated. But relieved? It was kind of weird. Oh! And this is actually way more relevant: I managed to communicate with Nathan inside the building!”
“Really? How? I thought you said you couldn’t get ahold of anyone.”
“We bought something. Ordered a bunch of metals in really weird quantities, hoping that someone would reach out to ask for clarification, and they did! I didn’t expect it would be Ami’s boyfriend, but that’s honestly even better. I know he’s alive and hopefully - assuming he got my second message - he knows we’re working on getting them out. Maybe they can help us from the inside. It might be easier to break the seal from there.”
“Did you guys get the metals?”
“Not yet, but it says they’re shipping tomorrow. If we do actually get them - and I think we will - maybe there will be a way to use that as a way in or out? And there’s still the bus going around - there’s just so many moving parts!”
“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling so enthusiastic about this! I’m sure you guys can figure it out with a little more time. Let me know if you need my help with anything; otherwise I’ll keep helping my team back in Arizona chase down cactus monsters.”
Allie laughed. “Cactus monsters?”
“Oh, yeah! It’s this whole thing! You see, up by Sedona there are these...”
Ella and Allie continued talking of less immediate concerns for a while, drinking lemonade and watching the sun set over the city skyline. Buttercream flopped down in the middle of the table after several unsuccessful attempts to steal a drink and allowed himself to be petted by both sisters. Finally, Ella got a text.
“Oop, that’s my ride. Gotta go.” She stood up, grabbing her bag, then squinted at Allie. “Hang on, you haven’t taken your pills yet. Come on, you promised.”
- “Right, almost forgot.” (Take the pills)
- “Uh, you’re going to be late!” (Dodge the accusation)
- “Right, almost forgot.” (Take the pills)
- “Uh, you’re going to be late!” (Dodge the accusation)
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Scene 36
“Right, almost forgot.” She fished through her bag for the bottle, quickly re-read the correct dosage, and dutifully took two with the last of her lemonade. “Satisfied?”
“Very. Alright, see you tomorrow! Have a good night.” Ella gave one last scratch to Buttercream before heading out.
Allie put the bottle back in her bag, but noticed something on the label and picked it back up to take another look. “Side effects: significant drowsiness. Lessens after 2-3 doses.” She frowned. “Hmmm. Hope that doesn’t put me out too quickly. I’ve got stuff to do tonight.”
...
Later that evening, Ami was curled up in a blanket on her couch. The TV was on in the background, but her attention was mostly focused on her laptop where she was busy paying this month’s utility bills. Nathan had been gone for over a month now, and life went on without him. She still had to keep the lights on. A lot of her free time was now spent researching or trying to convince Allie to give her more information, but aside from that, there wasn’t much she could do. She had already lost one important person in her life to a mysterious disappearance; the second wasn’t as much of a surprise.
Sometimes she wondered if the universe actually hated her, if she was just this unlucky, or if there was something else going on.
Someone rang her doorbell. Ami sat up, nonplussed. “At 10pm?” she asked aloud. “Who could that possibly be?” After further consideration, she picked up a sturdy bat she kept lying around for exactly this purpose and went to answer the door.
“Hey, Ami. Is, uh, now not a good time?”
Ami leaned against the doorframe, still confused. “Allie, what are you doing here at 10pm at night?” She blinked, glancing up. “Nice beanie, by the way. It suits you. Not used to you covering up your flashy white hair.”
“Look, I - I changed my mind and I need your help, okay? Can I come in for a few minutes to talk about it? It’s about Nathan.”
“Uh, sure? You do know cell phones exist, right?”
Allie didn’t go far into the apartment, remaining in the entryway and not even taking off her jacket. Clearly she didn’t intend to stay long. “It’s a little sensitive, both in time and secrecy. Here, let me explain.”
“Go for it.”
“Okay. Nathan has been kidnapped by a company known as Hane Mining Corporation. We managed to track him down to an old office building out west, near all the hospitals, but I think we tipped them off while doing so. They’re getting ready to relocate now, and we’re going to lose our only lead so far!” She grinned awkwardly. “So, uh, that’s why 10pm.”
“While I am thrilled you’re deciding to actually tell me things now... why? Why not some of your alphabet soup government pals? Don’t tell me you want me to go with you?”
“I want you to go with me. There’s a few reasons. First, it takes time to mobilize a full squad of agents. They’re working on it right now, but I’m worried it’ll be too late. Second, Nathan doesn’t know me and there’s a good chance he won’t trust me. He’ll trust you. Third... okay, I can’t really get into the third reason right now because there’s no time, but suffice to say I have a really solid hunch that bringing you will be important. Not just for Nathan, but for this whole operation.” She smiled again. “And when I have one of my hunches, the agency tends to pay attention. I got clearance to get you involved here for a reason. What do you say; do you want to help us figure out what happened to Nathan?”
- “Heck yes I do!”
- “Heck no I don’t!”
- Attack Allie with the bat. [Locks out at least one ending to the story. Probably not a good idea.]
(Winner: )
- “Heck yes I do!”
- “Heck no I don’t!”
- Attack Allie with the bat. [Locks out at least one ending to the story. Probably not a good idea.]
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 37
“I mean, obviously? If there’s any way I can help get him back, I’m in. What do I need to bring?”
“Dark clothes and a good flashlight if you have one. The rest of the agents should only be about half an hour behind us. I’ll explain more on the way.”
...
Allie yawned again and blinked tiredly at the clock. Only 10:15pm. I knew those pills would cause problems, she complained to herself. Can hardly keep my eyes open. She looked up just in time to see her character get killed again. A few seconds later, the match was over.
“Allie, you okay?” one of her friends asked over voice chat. “You’re playing terribly and are being really quiet.”
“Thanks for sparing my feelings, Law. I’m just... really tired. Started some new meds today. I think I’m gonna have to sign off for the night. Can barely stay awake, let alone focus on anything.”
There was an assortment of overlapping words from her pals, most boiling down to “take care of yourself; go to sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah. You and everyone else always telling me to take it easy. Alright, I’m going. Think I’d pass out in my chair if I stayed around too much longer anyway. See you on Wednesday for the next section, right?”
“Yep, and you can’t skip that one, okay?”
“Will do. I think I’ll be over the side effects by then. See ya; night!”
Allie disconnected from the call and took off her headset, leaning back in her chair. Damn meds, ruining my fun just like they’re ruining my work. This had better go away in 2-3 doses like the label said. I’m not missing Wednesday too.
She stood up, checked Buttercream’s food bowl, stumbled to her bedroom, and collapsed onto the bed. She was asleep within minutes. In the other room, left forgotten next to her computer, Allie’s phone beeped with several high-priority notices from the AIB. With the hallway, two doors, and a haze of drugs in the way, she didn’t have a hope of hearing them.
...
“Alright, here we are. You ready?”
Ami glanced at her phone. 10:27pm. It felt later than that; the streets were empty. No one had a good reason to be standing outside a dark, brutally-concrete office building at this time of night. She gripped the bat; Allie hadn’t told her to leave it and it made her feel a little more in control of the situation. Christ did she need that, with the tale about interdimensional buses, invisible office buildings, and magic liquid behind it all. It had been pretty damn difficult to take it all in over the course of a 20-minute car ride. Still, she wasn’t about to let something minor like being told that magic was real stop her from getting Nathan back.
“Yeah, I’m ready. Where do we start? Doesn’t look like anybody’s home.”
Allie looked up at the windows and frowned. “You’re right; I hope we’re not too late.” She moved her gaze back to street level and closed her eyes briefly. “The front door is the only one that has a signature on it. The others will just lead into the regular empty building. If we want to find Hane Corp and Nathan, that’s the door we want. Come on.”
Ami trailed behind as Allie walked cautiously up to the front door and tried the handles. “Locked. Maybe if-”
“You said we’re in a hurry, right?”
“Yep. What are - oh. Sure, go for it!”
She swung at the door’s glass three times in total before it broke, allowing her to carefully reach a hand through and undo the latch. Thankfully, no alarms blared. “I might have some experience in this sort of thing. Maybe.”
Allie raised her eyebrows. “Why am I not entirely surprised? Anyway, follow me. And keep a close eye out to see if anything changes once we go in.” She stepped through the doorway... and just disappeared.
Ami gasped. Even though she had been told about alternate dimensions and lacre-powered magic, seeing physical proof of it was an entirely different animal. She took a deep breath and stepped through as well.
...
“Ella, where are you going? I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s the semifinals in a few minutes!”
“Chill. I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Ella ducked away from the table before Hazel could protest further and walked quickly through the raucous crowds. She didn’t actually need to go, but her phone had just beeped six times in a row - someone wanted something, presumably urgently. Hopefully not urgent enough that she couldn’t finish quiz night. Her team was doing great, for once.
She made it into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall to check her phone away from anyone who could possibly be peeking over her shoulder. The notifications were all from the AIB’s internal messaging service, which was never a good sign. Especially when she wasn’t on duty or even on call. Then again, the Ortiez sisters were never really off-call. Just one of the many lovely benefits of being the only two known lacre-blooded humans on the planet.
“All trained lacre-response agents: detecting moderate spikes centered around an office building a few miles west of downtown. Hospital district. Previously unknown location; possible grade-silver situation. Scout team en route; all available agents please be on standby. Additional details below:”
Ella scowled at the phone. Great, just great. I really hope this doesn’t turn into anything that needs my attention. Or Allie’s, for that matter. She tapped the little checkmark icon on the message, indicating that she had read it and would be on alert, albeit grudgingly. Strange, Allie hasn’t marked it yet. She’s usually really quick on these things. Well, I guess she did say tonight was a game night; maybe she’s just in the middle of a match.
- Go back to the quiz. If the AIB needs anything from Ella, they’ll make it obvious.
⏪ - Make some excuses to Hazel and head out to the site.
- Make some excuses to Hazel and get ahold of Allie.
(Winner: )
- Go back to the quiz. If the AIB needs anything from Ella, they’ll make it obvious.
⏪ - Make some excuses to Hazel and head out to the site.
- Make some excuses to Hazel and get ahold of Allie.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 38
Ella made her way back to the table, frowning as several more messages filtered in. She risked peeking at her phone once, after sitting down but before the next round started. Hopefully no one would be watching.
More intense spikes, and the scout team was picking up some “troubling readings.” What does that mean? You can’t just say “troubling” and not elaborate. Plus, Allie still hadn’t acknowledged the first message. She was now the only one of the whole team of lacre-trained agents to have not done so. Very much unlike her.
“Ella, put your phone away! We don’t want to get disqualified!”
Ella glanced between Hazel and her phone indecisively.
“Ella!”
She growled and stood up. “Sorry, Hazel. Work emergency. I gotta go. I’ll make it up to you next week!”
“Wait, you can’t - we’re... ugh! You better!”
Ella shoved her way through the crowd and made it out onto the street, ducking away from the doors and tapping at her phone. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but... Well, better paranoid than the alternative.
She walked quickly towards the train station as the phone rang - she had been driven here by a friend who was staying behind, so the metro was the quickest way to get anywhere. She wasn’t technically working either, so no AIB unmarked vans. Not until someone decided she would be needed to respond to whatever this was.
The call went to voicemail. “Oh, come on, Allie,” she grumbled. “You had better not be in trouble. I just left you alone for a few hours!”
...
This is not an ordinary office building... Ami tilted her head back to take in the cobbled-together mess of tubes and wires that hung from the four-story ceiling like some massive pustule or cocoon. Balconies wrapped around the central atrium in tiers, forming an inverted pyramid as if to focus the energy of whatever that machine was down into a single point near the center of the ground floor. There, a ten-foot black stone obelisk pointed skyward, aiming into the heart of the mechanical mess above. A simple radio receiver sat on a folding table next to the obelisk, connected by a handful of thin wires.
Allie had made it only a dozen feet into the room before stopping to wait for her. Ami caught up and took another look around. “What is all this? What do we do now?”
“Now,” she began, glancing at something behind Ami, “You stay right there and don’t turn around.”
She started to hear heavy footsteps and labored, almost musical breathing. “W-why?” Her eyes darted to the side, but she couldn’t see anything without turning.
“Because that thing is going to hurt you if you move. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe. Just stay put.”
Ami clutched the bat tightly, feeling a tall presence looming over her. She didn’t turn. “What are you going to do?” she hissed, gesturing to whatever it was with her eyes.
“Me? Nothing.” She gestured to the thing. “Restrain her and bring her over to the shearstone. We don’t have much time.”
“Wait, wha-”
Long, sharp fingers wrapped around her chest, pinning her arms to her torso and lifting her into the air. Ami struggled, but the thing was immensely strong and she couldn’t even shift its grip, let alone break it. As it carried her closer to the black obelisk, she could see its distorted reflection in the polished stone: a tall, warped humanoid figure. Coal-black skin and gaunt muscles. A shiny brass bell in place of a head. She didn’t scream, but she certainly considered it.
“Allie, what the FUCK is going on?! Are you INSANE? What is this thing; what are you DOING?!”
Allie didn’t answer, instead busying herself fine-tuning the radio. After several seconds, it crackled to life. “Sir, we have Bowman as requested,” she said.
“You WHAT?!”
An old, tired voice spoke from the radio. “Good, good. And Ms Ortiez?”
Allie fidgeted. “I don’t know yet. But she’s got to be coming. They must have caught the spikes from the machine.”
“Very well. Keep an-”
Ami shouted over the radio. “EXCUSE ME?! Hey, you two! What is GOING ON?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I-”
“No, no. Tell her. It will do no harm.”
“A-are you sure?”
“You are in control of the situation, are you not? Go ahead, explain yourself. Maybe she will quiet down.”
“Okay. Alright.” Allie turned away from the radio and faced Ami. She took off the beanie, revealing short dark hair instead of long ghost-white. She plucked a set of pale contacts from her eyes, revealing ordinary brown. And she peeled a mask off her face, revealing an entirely different, less feminine set of facial features. “H-hi. My name is Eden. And I’m really sorry for tricking you.” Even the voice was different; clearly they had spent a lot of time practicing Allie’s accent.
Ami blinked at Eden, shocked. “Wha - why?”
They glanced back to the radio as if for confirmation. “Uh-”
“Go on; we still have several minutes. The short version.”
“Well, okay...” Eden shuffled on the spot. “So, I brought you here because I really need to talk to Allie Ortiez. And she’s going to come after you to make sure you’re safe.”
“Why not just talk to her like a normal person instead of going to all this trouble?! She’s not exactly impossible to get ahold of!”
“Eden, dear, you misspoke. You do not need to speak to Ms Ortiez; I do. And on very specific terms. Right here, very soon.”
“R-right. Sorry, sir. But she wouldn’t come here in the right way on her own, so we had to bring you here. I am really sorry about this; you’ll be free to go as soon as it’s over.”
“So, what, you’re just going to have a nice little chat with Allie and then let us both go peacefully? Somehow I doubt that. You wouldn’t need the disguises and this-” She grunted and kicked at the bell-head still restraining her. It didn’t flinch. “-this thing if you had good intentions. Maybe if you explain why it’s so important to do it this way, and let me go, then I might start to believe you?”
Eden paced between the obelisk and the radio. “No, you don’t understand. The AIB would never listen to us; they’re just confused. They don’t know how lacre really works, or what HMC’s purpose really is, but they think they do. I couldn’t just... walk up to the building and ask to talk! They’d...” A sigh. “No, I have to show them. Then we can all work together!”
“HMC... That wasn’t a lie? Do you actually know where Nathan is?”
“Sort of?” A noncommittal hand wiggle. “About as much as they do. He’s not here. Sorry. But I’m sure we can find him together as soon as Allie gets here and listens to us!”
The radio crackled again. “The scout team has arrived. Put on a show for them, will you?”
“Yes, sir.” Eden moved around to the other side of the obelisk and slid aside a hidden panel in the stone. They typed in a brief sequence on some obscured keypad and a deep thrum vibrated through the building. The mechanical components hanging from the ceiling hummed in response, producing a pillar of shimmering resonance in the center of the room. Ami clenched her jaw, wanting to cover her ears but unable to.
There was a whistling thump from outside, then an earsplitting crack leading to a drawn-out rumble. The resonance flared and the sounds repeated twice more before everything faded away. “I think they got the message.”
“Very good. We should have at least ten minutes. Prepare the machine, Eden. This is what you’ve been working towards.”
As Eden moved from the obelisk to other mechanical controls on the ground level, Ami was left alone with the bell-head. It didn’t seem inclined to follow, talk, move, or do anything, really. She glanced up at it, but couldn’t tell what it was thinking. Tried an experimental wiggle. Its grip was still too tight, but maybe with the bat...
What will Ami do?
- Try to escape the bell-head and get out!
- Try to distract Eden and maybe get more info!
- Try to escape the bell-head and stop Eden!
- Stay put. Wait for an opportunity.
What does she think of Eden?
- A manipulative, untrustworthy enemy.
- A confused, possibly brainwashed henchman for the radio voice.
- A nervous, probably now-forthright potential ally.
(Winners: , )
- Try to escape the bell-head and get out!
- Try to distract Eden and maybe get more info!
- Try to escape the bell-head and stop Eden!
- Stay put. Wait for an opportunity.
What does she think of Eden?
- A manipulative, untrustworthy enemy.
- A confused, possibly brainwashed henchman for the radio voice.
- A nervous, probably now-forthright potential ally.
(Winners: , )
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Scene 39
...No, that would be stupid. What was she expecting to do even if she could wiggle out of its grip? The thing was eight feet tall and ripped; she’d never be able to outrun it or fight it off. No, she had to play this a little bit smarter. They clearly needed her to get to Allie - for whatever reason. She had some leverage.
“Hey! Radio guy! What’s your deal?” Not her most eloquent, but it got the point across.
“Eden, I’ve had enough of the interruptions from your friend here. There are many matters that require my present attention. I will reopen the channel once our guests have arrived. Do not lose control of the situation.” The radio clicked.
Well, that’s something at least. Maybe I can get through to them?
“Hey! Eden! You want to explain why this super powerful government agency has everything wrong and why you, some dork with a radio and a rock, have it right?”
Eden growled from the controls. “Can you please be quiet? I’m trying to concentrate.”
Ami waited until they stopped staring at her and went back to work, then shouted again, “So is that a ‘no’ on the explanation, then?”
“Stop it! This is very delicate work that-”
“Yeah, yeah. If you wanted to hurt me, you’d already have had your walking tuba here do it. You need me... apparently. So why not just talk? Why are you so confident? Your friend on the radio?”
“Will you shut up if I tell you?”
“Sure! Why not; seems like a fair trade.”
“Okay, okay. Mr Bolte is an expert in lacre; he’s been studying it for decades! He’s shown me all sorts of miracles and helped me accomplish so many things. He’s a true wizard; just like from games or books! He’s just so cool and - er, I mean... knowledgeable and powerful. That’s what I said.”
“So why isn’t he here? Why leave you to do all the work?”
“Ah - that wasn’t part of the deal. I told you why I know I’m right; you have to shut up now.”
“Dammit.” Ami stayed quiet for well over fifteen seconds, long enough that Eden smiled and went back to the machine’s controls. “But then again!”
“ARGH!”
...
“Doors closing,” the train announced happily. Ella pressed farther back into her seat, trying to avoid the eyes of everyone else in the car. It wasn’t hard; most people didn’t interact on the metro if they could help it.
Allie still wasn’t answering her phone. Ella had tried thrice more and got voicemail every time. At least she was only a few minutes away now and the situation hadn’t escalated further.
Her phone beeped. She glared at it, just daring the message to prove her wrong.
“Major spikes detection at prior location: we have a full grade-silver situation. Requesting all available response agents for assistance in neutralizing an active threat. Agent Ortiez required.”
Great. Fantastic. Real lovely “night off.” Ella tapped at the message, indicating she was on her way, then changed her mind. She wasn’t, actually. Not yet, at least. She called HQ.
“Go for dispatch.”
“It’s Ella. About that alert you just sent out; I don’t suppose you can send a car to Allie’s apartment?” She glanced around at the people on the train around her. No one seemed to be paying attention. “I’m headed there now.”
“Affirm, will have someone there in... four minutes. Is Agent Ortiez with you?”
“I’m Agent Ortiez,” she definitely did not say. Still conscious of all the witnesses, she muttered, “No, not yet. I’m trying to reach her. That’s why I’m going there.”
The dispatcher muttered. “Better hurry. Scouts are reporting possible escalation. This is going to be a big one. We’ll need her.”
“Great. Glad I can help by just going to pick her up. I should go.”
She ended the call with a huff before the dispatcher could respond. “Agent Ortiez” this, “Agent Ortiez” that. I’m the important “Agent Ortiez” down in Arizona, but up here everything’s all about Allie. I wonder if these guys even know how to respond to a lacre incident without her. She paused for a few seconds, considering her grumbling. I hope we don’t have to find out, though. Please be okay.
...
Eden had ordered the bell-head to cover Ami’s mouth. It didn’t stop her from making noise entirely, but she couldn’t shout properly with the thing’s gross, sharp fingers in the way. In any case, just being loud and obnoxious didn’t seem to be offering any further distractions. She’d have to change her tactics if she wanted to accomplish anything else.
Still, with the thing’s new grip, it had left one of her arms secured only by a few fingers. It was still far stronger than her, but maybe with the element of surprise...
- Try to escape and run away!
- Try to escape and stop Eden!
- Try to escape and break the radio!
- Stay put. Wait for an opportunity.
(Winner: )
- Try to escape and run away!
- Try to escape and stop Eden!
- Try to escape and break the radio!
- Stay put. Wait for an opportunity.
(Winner: )
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Scene 40
No, no. It might be easier to break its grip now, but still - what am I going to do if I get out? There’s no way to get away from this thing. I’m sure there will be an opportunity later, if they’re planning on getting Allie to do something. I just need to wait until the right moment.
Loud clanking noises caused the building to shudder as the mechanism above spread apart somewhat, revealing a pulsing light deep within. Wisps of some glowing gas joined the pillar of resonance already in place between it at the obelisk. I just hope I know when that moment arrives.
...
Allie shouted and tried to roll away as someone grabbed at her shoulders, ripping her out of sleep. Instead, she fell off the bed.
“Whoa, Allie, you okay? Sorry if I surprised you.”
“Ow...” She looked up, still dazed and loopy. “Ella? And, uh, you guys?” Several of the AIB agents standing behind Ella pretended to not be paying attention. She didn’t know any of them. “What’s going on?”
“Come on, get up. We need to go, now.” Ella helped her off the floor and handed over her phone. “You must have been sleeping so hard you missed the notifications; there’s a grade-silver in progress. You’re requested.”
Allie blinked several times and shook her head as the agents bundled her down the stairs and out into an idling van. She still felt incredibly disoriented. “Wha - grade-silver? Where? What? I’m sorry; I’m just... out of it.”
The driver floored it as soon as the door closed. Ella frowned. “Office building in the hospital district; new location. Scouts say major spikes, and apparently there’s been some actual attacks against them? They’re still trying to figure out what’s going on, but it’s pretty clear there’s something in there that needs purged. You, uh, feeling up for that?”
“I, well, I have to be, right?” Allie flexed her fingers, staring at her hands. “Yeah, no problem. Do we know what the object is, or if it’s related to anything currently going on? Hane Corp? The buses?”
Ella shrugged. “Not yet. Last I heard, they’re still trying to get more info. Are you... sure you’re up for this? You’re spacing out a lot and it could be dangerous.”
“Huh? No, I’m okay. I can handle it.”
“Okay...” Ella narrowed her eyes but let the matter drop. A few minutes passed without further conversation as Allie kept staring at her hands and Ella kept covertly glancing at her. Eventually, an agent from the front seat spoke.
“We just got more information from the scouts; one of them was able to get a drone inside the building and record some video before it was destroyed. Here, take a look.” The Ortiez sisters both leaned forward to watch the video.
The recording started from ground level, just outside the doors to a large office building. An agent’s boots were visible and shuffled slightly as they opened the door for the drone. The camera rolled forward and shook as it passed over the threshold, then emerged into a large interior space.
Allie’s eyes widened as she noticed the bell-head, then she actually gasped as the drone rolled closer and she could make out who the monster was restraining. She didn’t recognize the obelisk, machine, or other person manipulating various controls and wearing a very similar coat to her own, but didn’t really need to. It was clear that the obelisk and machine were the lacre-infused objects that needed purging, and it was equally clear that Ami had somehow found herself in deep trouble.
The drone rolled closer, angling its camera to get a better view of the controls, obelisk, and machinery bolted to the ceiling. It made it past the bell-head and under one of the tables before suddenly tilting wildly as someone picked it up. The view centered on the person Allie didn’t know.
“Glad you folks finally showed up. I need to show you something about lacre. It’s urgent and it’ll change the entire way you view the substance. But I know you’re probably going to want to destroy this machine instead, so here’s the deal. Send in Agent Ortiez, alone, and no one gets hurt. I just want to explain what’s going on. Send anyone else or try any funny business and - and - I’m really sorry about this, but I’ll have to order my servant to kill your friend. It’s that important. You’ll thank me once you understand. You have fifteen minutes.”
The camera feed cut out and the recording ended.
“What is Ami Bowman doing in that building?” Allie hissed. “Did we get her involved?”
Ella and the other agent exchanged glances. Ella spoke. “I don’t know, but that may not be the part to focus on. They want ‘Agent Ortiez, alone.’ To apparently demonstrate some huge revelation. Allie, do you know this person?”
“No, no. But, the bell-head... What - how did it get there? Do you think... that, he’s involved?”
“Maybe? Look, I still don’t think you’re focusing on the big problem here. They want one of us - I’m assuming probably you given that everything up here is about you - to go in alone with this unknown machine. That’s... a very bad idea.”
“Well, okay, but what’s your alternative?! If we do anything else, Ami’s going to die!”
The other agent spoke up from the front seat. “If I may, we will have a full team of lacre-response agents on site in the next few minutes - we’re among the last to arrive. If we send in the whole team, there’s no guarantee, but we can do our best to save her while also taking down that machine. From what you told us, those bell-heads aren’t immune to gunfire.”
“That’s the kind of thinking that’ll get her shot as well as torn apart! No, there has to be another option. Why would they want me specifically - what if they want you instead? Or just one of us? It’s the lacre blood, right? Has to be. But why would that matter if they’re just showing us something...?”
“Allie, this person is lying. Like, you get that, right? They’re going to do something with that machine and our lacre blood. I don’t know what, but I’m sure it’ll be horrible. Look, I just don’t know if we want to risk it - either one of us could be really dangerous to the world if anything weird happens. You remember turning into a lacre beast, right? Do you want to risk that?”
“Do you want to get someone killed? I brought her into this mess; I’m not about to let her get hurt.”
“Did you really, though? I thought you were keeping all the details secret for exactly this reason!”
“Well, yeah, but she still knew I was investigating and that we had made progress and - look, if it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t be involved!”
The van stopped. “We’re here. Ready?”
Allie and Ella stepped out into a crowd of other vans and AIB agents, gearing up just down the street from the building. Agent Lantoon spotted them immediately and gave a nod. “We’re with you, whatever you decide.”
Ella nodded appreciatively, then placed a hand on Allie’s shoulder. “Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”
They retreated somewhat from the bustle of activity, still keeping an eye on the time. Nine minutes left. “What?”
“Allie, I am your sister and you are a terrible liar. Tell me honestly: are you actually confident enough in your abilities to promise me that you will not get hurt if you go in there alone?”
Allie broke eye contact, glancing down. She pursed her lips.
“Allie.”
“Okay, okay. Look, you can’t tell anyone else or they’ll freak out, but... I can’t use my powers right now. I think it’s the drugs; I just keep feeling dizzy and can’t get a grip when I try to use them. I don’t know if I can actually purge the machine right now.”
Ella put her hands on her hips. “You can’t go in there. I’m not letting you, not without your powers and drugged half out of your mind. That’s final.”
“Well, what’s your PLAN then?! If I don’t go in, Ami’s going to die!”
[Vote for as many options as desired. 
️ needs at least a 75% supermajority to win. If it has the most votes but does not have 75%, 
will override it as Allie really does not like ️.]
[This is a branch point. Choosing any option here will lock out at least one ending to the story. At least one option is potentially deadly to a major character, though who exactly is unclear.]
- “I’ll go in. They just said ‘Agent Ortiez’ - I’m an Agent Ortiez.”
- “We look pretty similar, right? I bet I could pretend to be you.”
️ - “Send in the whole team. We can’t risk it.”
- (Ella loses the argument. Allie goes in on her own.)
(Winner: )
️ needs at least a 75% supermajority to win. If it has the most votes but does not have 75%, will override it as Allie really does not like ️.]
[This is a branch point. Choosing any option here will lock out at least one ending to the story. At least one option is potentially deadly to a major character, though who exactly is unclear.]
- “I’ll go in. They just said ‘Agent Ortiez’ - I’m an Agent Ortiez.”
- “We look pretty similar, right? I bet I could pretend to be you.”
️ - “Send in the whole team. We can’t risk it.”
- (Ella loses the argument. Allie goes in on her own.)
(Winner: )
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Scene 41
Ella thought for a few moments. “Look, they just said ‘Agent Ortiez,’ right? I’m at least an Agent Ortiez. I’ll go instead of you.”
“What? You can’t do that!”
“Why not? It’s who they’re asking for, it satisfies the ‘come alone’ condition, it doesn’t put you in danger, and there’s much less risk to your friend since the whole team won’t be in there. Look, it’s the best solution I can come up with on short notice and we don’t have much time. Are you with me or not?”
Allie nervously glanced between Ella and the building. “Agh... fine! Yeah, I know I shouldn’t go in like this. Too risky. But you...”
“Hey, I’ve got my own tricks; you know that. Not quite as fancy as yours, but I’m definitely not helpless. Plus, I’ve actually got more experience than you dealing with lacre-related problems. I’ll be okay. Just make sure the team’s ready to come in as backup as soon as I get the situation either under control or very out of control.”
“Alright, alright. Just... be safe, okay? If you get yourself killed because of this, I’m not going to forgive you.”
Ella smirked and grabbed Allie in a hug. “I’ll be fine. Now, let’s make sure everyone else is on board with this.”
...
Someone walked through the front door. Ami looked up; it wasn’t Allie. The radio guy - Mr Bolte, Eden had said - wouldn’t be pleased. Oh fuck, are they actually going to kill me? Hang on, stay calm. See what’s going to happen.
“I see our guest has arrived,” crackled the radio. “Eden, bring her here.”
“That’s not Allie, though,” Eden whispered, glancing back at the approaching figure. “What are we going to do?”
The radio had no expression, but the man’s voice held an almost predatory inflection as Bolte replied. “No, but she could be even better.”
“Hey!” the newcomer shouted from across the room. “I’m Agent Ortiez. You wanted to show me something and then let my friend go?”
Eden clicked their fingers, directing the bell-head to move up beside the obelisk. It released one of Ami’s arms, letting her walk on her own but still keeping a firm grip on her wrist with the other hand. Progress. “You’re not Allie Ortiez. Who are you?”
“Ella. I’m her sister. Anything you can show her, you can show me. Now hurry it up so you can release her, okay? No need for anything rash.” Ella appeared unarmed, but Ami could tell she was ready for a fight. Eyes alert, posture tense, and hands at the ready. If things devolved, she would be ready to move. Ami would too.
“Okay, alright. Fine.” Eden seemed significantly less confident than even a few minutes ago, which was a real feat. “Just stand here, please, and I’ll show you.”
Ella didn’t move. “In that chalk circle on the floor? Right underneath that enormous machine in the ceiling? Next to this weird obelisk that’s clearly magical? Do you think I’m stupid? I’ll stay right here, thanks. Show me whatever it is you need to show me, then let Ami go.”
Eden nervously glanced over to the radio, then the controls. “Uhm...”
The old, tired voice spoke up again. “Hello again, little puppet.”
Even from a distance, Ami could see the color immediately drain from Ella’s face. She actually took a step back before regaining her composure. “Wilhelm Bolte. You... survived, then?”
Bolte chuckled, but without any humor. “No. But you of all creatures should know that being dead isn’t the inconvenience it used to be. I suppose you’re wondering why I brought you here.”
“What do you want with me and Allie? Whatever it is, we’re not helping you. We stopped you once; we can do it again.”
“There’s that misplaced confidence! You certainly have become your own splinter; your prime would never have been able to speak so freely.”
“I’m not just Allie’s duplicate anymore, Bolte. Now tell me what you want so we can get to the part where I stop you already.”
“Hmph. Very well. I’ll keep it simple. I want you to stand in the chalk circle while Eden here engages the machine. Sound simple enough?”
Ella remained stationary. “And why should I do that?”
Another half-chuckle. “Because you’re noble and self-sacrificing. Because you’re the ‘good guy.’ Because I will kill your friend if you don’t. I will rip her apart as you watch, knowing you could have prevented this. And because then, after her painful death, Eden will invoke the contingency plan.”
“Don’t worry, Am,” Ella said, looking at Ami for the first time. “I’ll get you out of this. Just get out the front door as soon as you can; the rest of my team is out there waiting for us.” To Bolte, she admitted, “Okay, you make a strong case. You’re right; I don’t want to watch your bell-head rip anybody apart tonight. But I think you’re forgetting something.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“You’re forgetting that Eden isn’t as evil as you are.” She took a step forward, careful to avoid the chalk circle, and raised a hand placatingly. “Right? Listen to him. He’s dangerous and he’s willing to kill people for his own benefit. I don’t know what lies he told you to get you to do this, but you can always walk away. We can help you. Just step away from the controls and tell the bell-head to let Ami go.”
“No!” Eden gripped a control panel with both hands. “No. You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re confused; Mr Bolte is just trying to help. He knows that you won’t be willing unless you’re forced. It’s all for the greater good. No, you have to. Get in the circle. Get in the circle, NOW!” They were breathing too quickly.
“That’s right, dear Eden. You understand. You are the only one who understands. But soon, she will too.” In a harsher tone, he spoke to Ella. “Get in the circle. You have five seconds or you can say goodbye to your friend’s arm. And then her head.” The bell-head tightened its grip. Ami grimaced in pain.
[This is a branch point. Many combinations of options are potentially deadly to one or multiple characters. Choose wisely. Elaborate in #story_discussion as needed]
[Ella, primary]
- Step into the circle.
- Attack the bell-head; free Ami.
⏸️ - Attack Eden; take the controls.
- Attack the radio; get Bolte out of the picture.
[Ella, secondary. For more information on PRS devices, consult Agent Lantoon]
- Activate the PRS device on her back, low power.
- Activate the PRS device on her back, maximum power.
- Do not activate the PRS device.
[Ella, tertiary]
- Call in backup.
- Don’t.
[Ami]
- Run away if the opportunity presents itself.
- Stay and help Ella if the opportunity presents itself.
[Eden. A unanimous decision is required to select . There will be consequences, and they may not be what you think]
- Stay loyal to Bolte. He can save you.
- Help Ella. This isn’t right.
(Winners: , , , , )
- Step into the circle.
- Attack the bell-head; free Ami.
⏸️ - Attack Eden; take the controls.
- Attack the radio; get Bolte out of the picture.
[Ella, secondary. For more information on PRS devices, consult Agent Lantoon]
- Activate the PRS device on her back, low power.
- Activate the PRS device on her back, maximum power.
- Do not activate the PRS device.
[Ella, tertiary]
- Call in backup.
- Don’t.
[Ami]
- Run away if the opportunity presents itself.
- Stay and help Ella if the opportunity presents itself.
[Eden. A unanimous decision is required to select . There will be consequences, and they may not be what you think]
- Stay loyal to Bolte. He can save you.
- Help Ella. This isn’t right.
(Winners: , , , , )
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Scene 42
There will be blood...
“Calm down, jeez. Alright, I’m going.” Ella took a slow step towards the circle. Another. Her left hand slowly moved to her waist. Then, she pressed something on her backpack and leapt forward.
“Eden, the contingency plan,” Bolte ordered. “Now!”
“Y-yes, sir!” Eden rushed through a row of switches before hesitating over the last button, right next to the obelisk. The resonant pillar between it and the machine ballooned and buzzed harshly. “Sir, are you sure-”
“Just do it! Hurry, befo-”
The radio cut out as Ella got within ten feet. She picked it up and smashed it on the ground, sending mechanical parts scattering across the floor. The situation slowed down.
Eden placed their hand on the button. “Don’t-”
Ella held up both hands placatingly. “It’s okay, I’m not going to attack you. I just want to talk. Is that okay?”
No response. Fast breathing and eyes moving quickly.
“Can you tell me what Bolte said this machine will do?”
“It’s - it’s going to bring him back to life. He’s trapped somewhere horrible; he said Allie trapped him there, but she didn’t mean it and didn’t know what she was doing. He just wants to get out and explain why what you’re doing with lacre is really dangerous.”
“So why Allie? Why me?”
“I don’t know! He just said he needed Allie to undo the curse because she was the one who did it and - hey! Stay back!”
“I’m not moving. Eden, I think we all need to just calm down, dismiss the bell-head, and talk to each other. Okay? There’s too much tension right now with the machine and-” She winced and pressed a hand to her side momentarily. “The kidnapping. If you let her go, I promise we’ll listen. I’ve had a bad experience with Bolte, but... I’m willing to at least listen. Give it a chance.” She stretched out an open hand. “What do you say? Truce?”
Eden hesitated for several long moments. Ella grimaced again, shuddering, but didn’t drop her hand.
“...Okay.”
Eden let their hand drop from the button and took a tentative step away from the obelisk, towards Ella.
Ami screamed.
Both Eden and Ella whipped around to see the bell-head, forgotten in the standoff, blasting a harrowing note into the air. Blood coated its talon-like fingers and Ami’s arm fell limply to the ground a second before her body. She groaned and clutched at the stump.
“No... No! Get AWAY FROM HER!” Ella jumped into action, drawing a shimmering white handgun from a pocket of empty space beneath her backpack. Eden stumbled back, face draining of color.
The bell-head ran forward to meet Ella, its strides unnaturally quick and graceful enough to dodge three shots; they sparked harmlessly into the floor or walls. It loomed over her, claws outstretched... then spun past and ignored her completely.
Ella skidded to a stop, baffled and torn between Ami and the bell-head. She made a snap decision and rushed to Ami’s side, stowing the gun and retrieving a patch of light blue material instead. “You’re gonna be okay,” she murmured as she ripped open the packaging and primed the patch. “Promise.”
Meanwhile, the bell-head arrived at the obelisk and wrapped its bloody claws around it. Eden stood several paces back, stunned. “Wait, wait, you can’t - WAIT!”
The bell-head screeched and pressed the button. Two seconds passed as the resonant pillar faded from view. The machine screamed, then burst with white light.
Ella was thrown to the floor by the shockwave, ears ringing and PRS backpack beeping urgently. Ami was still moving and the patch had stayed on. She’d live. Now, what was - “Oh, hell.” The machine hung by only a few damaged cables. The building crackled with white flames. The obelisk glittered with a second skin of flowing silver energy. A voice echoed on the outskirts of her consciousness, but the PRS kept it temporarily at bay. The floor in a small radius around her remained stable, but elsewhere it sagged like melting cheese. It’s time to leave.
She picked herself up and knelt next to Ami. “Hey, we gotta go. Can you walk?”
Ami grit her teeth and reached out with her remaining hand. “Help me up.”
“You’re doing great.” Ella handed her the dropped bat to use as a makeshift walking stick or something, then began to slowly escort her to the front doors as the structure rumbled around them. She couldn’t see Eden or the bell-head through the flames. “Just keep moving. We’ll be out in no time. Allie can grow you a new arm, too. You’ll be fine; just gotta make it out the door.” She almost missed a step as a wave of fatigue pulsed through her body. Her heart fluttered. Keep it together.
“The... flames...” Ami gasped, slowing to a crawl. “Too much.”
Ella immediately shucked off her backpack. No time to second-guess myself. “Wear this. It’ll keep the heat at bay.”
Ami tried to resist. “Don’t you need it?”
“No; you need it more. I have natural resistance to this stuff. Plus,” she admitted, breathing more freely with the PRS off, “That thing would have knocked me out if I had kept it on much longer. It’s totally safe for you, though! Feeling better?”
A nod. Ella could feel the flames licking at her skin now, repelled by her lacre blood. That wouldn’t last forever, but she had some time. The voice from earlier grew more distinct, but she was still in the PRS’s radius and it couldn’t break through. Wait, that sounds real. HANG ON-
The bell-head charged out of nowhere and tackled Ella, throwing her to the ground. She summoned her gun as the monster clawed at her, but was unable to get a shot off before the creature knocked it out of her hands, serving only as a brief distraction. “Ami, run!” she shouted, raising her arms defensively and preparing to lose them.
With a sound like a discordant cymbal crash, the bell-head paused its attack as a baseball bat smashed into its neck. It slowly looked up, as if to ask, “Really?”
“Ami, I said RUN!” Ella managed to squirm out of the thing’s grip while it was distracted and backpedaled several steps, looking around for her gun. On the ground twenty feet away, but behind the monster. “GET OUT OF HERE!”
The bell-head advanced on Ella, blocking her path to the gun and backing her towards a wall of flames. Resistant or not, she’d be cooked if she got too close. Come on, come on... She mentally leafed through her bag of tricks, but was dangerously close to running out of options.
CLANG. Ami smacked the thing in the side of the bell again, actually knocking it off balance. It half-turned and just barely missed with its claws as she hopped out of the way. “Go; I’ll keep it busy!”
“What part of ‘RUN’ do you not understand?!” Ella shouted, dodging around the bell-head’s other side.
“The part where I leave my rescuer to die!” She jumped back again, keeping the thing’s attention but staying just out of reach.
Ella scooped up her gun and turned. “Get out of the way! I need a clear shot!”
Unfortunately, at this point the bell-head was invested. It sidestepped the next strike and shot out a long, distorted arm to pick Ami up by the throat. The creature turned back towards Ella, holding its captive in front of its body as she tried to take aim.
One of the three remaining cables holding the machine on the ceiling finally succumbed to the fire and snapped. There was a peal of screeching, ripping metal as the other two gave way as well, then the entire thing plummeted to the ground. Ella glanced up, cried out, and ran forward to escape the crush of burning metal. She felt the heat on her back and was shoved further by the force of the impact, having just barely made it away in time.
The bell-head punched her in the head. She collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Ami struggled in its grip, desperate for air. Its fingers were like steel; she couldn’t move them at all. Blackness crept into her vision as the bell-head tightened its grip. It’s going to kill me. I’m going to die.
A humanoid silhouette blurred through the flames as Ami passed out as well.
...
Outside, Allie paced in front of the building. “It’s been too long. Right? Shouldn’t we go in?”
Agent Lantoon patted her shoulder. “Patience. Your sister will call if she needs us. Have faith.”
The building’s windows flared with white light and an earthquake-like rumble spread from the foundation. Allie knelt to steady herself on the sidewalk. When she looked up, white flames engulfed the first few floors. Clearly, the pocket dimension had collapsed. “Lantoon!” she shouted. “There’s no WAY she has it under control! We’re going in!”
- “You heard her, squad. Let’s go!”
- “I’ll lead the team. You stay here, Ortiez.”
- “She said she’d call. Going in will destabilize the situation further.”
(Winner: )
- “You heard her, squad. Let’s go!”
- “I’ll lead the team. You stay here, Ortiez.”
- “She said she’d call. Going in will destabilize the situation further.”
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 43
“Everyone form up!” Lantoon shouted. “We’re going in!”
As the team quickly got into position, he lowered his voice and spoke to Allie. “You’re staying out here, got it? Ella told me what’s going on.”
“You can’t expect me to not go in when my sister - she -” Allie gestured at the flames. “Look!”
“I can and do. Stay here. We can handle it.” Raising his voice again, Lantoon moved to the front of the line. “Primary objective is to prevent whatever this is from harming anyone else. Secondary is to extract all agents and civilians. No equipment restrictions; get everyone home safe. Let’s do this.”
Allie stood alone on the sidewalk moments later. She could already hear sirens in the distance; someone had presumably noticed the burning building and called it in. Or maybe it was just an ambulance; they were surrounded by hospitals, after all. She sat down in the open trunk of a nearby van and stared at the fire. What a relaxing night off this had turned out to be. Just make it out, please. I can’t lose you. Not like this. A sigh. Nothing changed in the building. Waiting was the worst.
Experimentally, Allie stretched her hand out and flexed her fingers, feeling for the lacre. Something was there now; she could make little silver sparkles dance across her palm. Her abilities were returning, albeit slowly. At least I didn’t lose it forever. One hell of a side effect, though.
“Allie.”
“Wha?” She turned around, searching for the speaker. “Who’s there?”
No response. She stood up and looked in more detail. No one was there. “Am I going crazy?” she muttered. “Wouldn’t rule it out, honestly.”
“Allie.”
“Hey!” She peered into the darkness. Even with her enhanced eyesight, she could only make out vague shapes beyond the glow of the fire. “I saw you this time. Who are you?”
“It’s not your fault,” the voice told her. “You can’t blame yourself.”
“Oh no, no no no.” Allie moved towards the sound, skirting the edge of the burning building and keeping on guard. “What isn’t?”
“Sometimes, no matter what choices you make, you can’t save everyone.”
“No, no. Stop it.” She still couldn’t figure out what that shape was, or whose voice was speaking to her.
“Sometimes sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of ultimate good.”
“...” Were those... headlights?
“Sometimes all you can do is move on and start over. Learn from your mistakes and don’t make them again.”
There was a bus parked behind the building. It hadn’t been there just a few minutes ago, when they had swept the area. The voice was playing through its speakers.
“You can’t save everyone, but you can save someone. What are your priorities? How much is a life worth, to you? These are the questions that true leaders must ask themselves every day.”
The driver, a large hairy man, pulled a lever and the doors opened with a hiss. He gestured towards them urgently. Allie cautiously approached as the recorded speech reached its conclusion.
“Choose, Alison Ortiez. A life for a life. You will understand, in time.”
Ami was lying on a seat in the front row, unconscious and bleeding from multiple claw wounds. She was missing an arm and seemed to be barely breathing. The driver gestured to her, clearly upset.
“No, no. No no no no. What happened? Where’s Ella? Is she alive?”
The driver made several frantic but unclear gestures in response, ending with a press on the gas pedal. The engine revved. He put a hand on the door lever.
“You can’t save everyone, but you can save someone.”
[This is a branch point.]
- Board the bus. Use Allie’s healing abilities. Ami will live, but...
- Don’t board the bus. Ami will die, but...
[After the immediate results of the above choice, who shall we follow?]
[Ella is... unavailable and cannot be the current protagonist.]
- Be Nathan.
- Be Allie.
- Be Ami.
(Winners: , )
- Board the bus. Use Allie’s healing abilities. Ami will live, but...
- Don’t board the bus. Ami will die, but...
[After the immediate results of the above choice, who shall we follow?]
[Ella is... unavailable and cannot be the current protagonist.]
- Be Nathan.
- Be Allie.
- Be Ami.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 44
Oh, this is such a bad idea.
Allie leapt onto the bus and double-timed it up the stairs to kneel next to Ami. The driver pulled the doors shut and floored it as she was still in the aisle, accelerating away from the burning building with incredible speed. She breathed in, slowly, placed both hands on her friend’s unconscious form, and reached for the lacre.
Thank fucking god. It responded sluggishly, but at least it was there. Her hands began to glow with silvery light and wounds sealed beneath her touch. It would take minutes of uninterrupted concentration, and she wouldn’t be able to regrow the arm just yet, but she could at least stop the bleeding. No one had to die tonight.
Ella, please be safe. Please.
...
“You know, Carlos,” Nathan said. “I never expected you to get this many volunteers to help out. When you said you ‘knew some people,’ I thought maybe two or three. Not... the whole department.”
Carlos winked and tapped the side of his helmet. “I’ve been here a while; you get to know a lot of folks. Plus, this is the first real chance of escape any of them have ever seen. Any of us, even. So yeah, I’m not too surprised.”
“Do you think we should be bringing this many people, though? What if something goes wrong?”
“We’re gonna do our best to make that not happen, got it? We’re in charge of getting that data; they’re just here to buy us the time to do it. As soon as we’re done, everyone gets to leave.”
“No pressure, right?”
“Now you’re getting it.”
Nathan grimaced as he splashed into another puddle and his boot sank past the ankle in sticky black mud. “So can you tell me why the datacenters are in the mines? Instead of, you know, in the building where you’d expect them to be?”
A shrug. “I didn’t put them here. Could be natural cooling, could be more room, could be just to make them harder to get to. Who knows, really?”
There was a lull in the conversation as the group navigated a particularly tight passage. Nathan could hear guides giving directions behind them. “Do you think these mines are natural? I mean, it seems pretty weird if there were these giant caves right under downtown.”
“There might have been something here before... whatever transformed this building into what it is now, but definitely nothing this elaborate. The weight of the city would have collapsed it years ago.” Their guide held up a hand, bringing everyone to a halt. “Hang on, we must be nearly there.”
Nathan shuffled forward to crouch next to the guide as the weathered man surveyed the next cavern from their perch at the mouth of a tunnel halfway up the wall. The room was broad and tall, with relatively flat ground cut through by a rushing subterranean river. A rusty metal bridge spanned the gap and the entire cavern was lit by a series of floodlights installed in the ceiling. Unfortunately, those lights revealed several moving... creatures?
He counted five of the things: clusters of boulders, metal scraps, and other debris that slowly shuffled across the floor with no apparent motivating pattern. At times, they appeared to sprout short-lived limbs to be used to drag their bodies across the floor or manipulate a feature of the environment. After almost a minute of watching, one of them simply burrowed into the floor and was gone, leaving behind nothing but a mound of rubble. Two of the remaining creatures approached and began to smooth down the earth.
“Like them?” the guide asked. “We call these critters ‘golems.’ They’re peaceful, unless you get too close. If they think you’re gettin’ up in their business, they’ll move a lot faster and try to crush you. Typically, we just leave ‘em alone since they’ll burrow away after a while. But if you’re in a hurry to get to the datacenter, the passage is right across that bridge and through that tunnel. Right through that mob of golems. Plus, if we stand around here, something worse might show up. There are usually real nasty beasties around the server rooms.”
- Go for it. Avoid the golems and get in there.
- Sneak past them. Don’t take the whole group.
- Wait until the golems go away.
(Winner: )
- Go for it. Avoid the golems and get in there.
- Sneak past them. Don’t take the whole group.
- Wait until the golems go away.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 45
“Can we just sneak past them real slowly, keeping away from them? If they’re normally calm?”
The guide nodded. “Not a bad idea, as long as you’re careful. Just do not get close to any of them and you’ll be fine. The rest of the group can catch up once the golems leave.”
“You sure you’re up for this?” Carlos asked, kneeling in preparation to descend. “Only one of us actually has to go.”
“Isn’t that what I should be asking you?”
“Heh. Alright, you got me. Let’s get movin’.”
The three of them - Nathan, Carlos, and the guide - slowly made their way down the wall until they were standing level with the golems. The remaining few dozen people gathered in the tunnel mouth to watch, but the group as a whole was too large to make it past. They’d have to wait until the creatures left.
As they got closer, Nathan kept a careful eye on the golems. The creatures didn’t seem to have any features that weren’t crafted from the materials they had presumably scraped off the floor. Boulders and debris moved in concert, somehow, animated by an invisible force. Most of the time, the things resembled amorphous masses of rocks and scrap slowly lurching along the ground. Occasionally, however, an arm or head or some other distinctly humanoid feature would form out of the more malleable components: small scraps of metal, plastic, and even paper. Nathan wondered why they chose to take humanoid forms - if only briefly - and how they did so. Was it to help in movement, sensing, or manipulating the environment? Was it purposeless and just ingrained by whatever magic had assembled them? He didn’t know and expected he probably never would.
One of the golems happened to glance in his direction as it shaped a simple head out of rocks and rusty metal plates. Two little divots in the face acted as rudimentary eyes, but there was nothing actually there to allow it to see. Nathan shivered as the mute giant regarded him, then eventually looked away as its head melted back into the rest of its body.
They approached the bridge, slowing as the guide spoke quietly. “Don’t look into the river as we cross, okay? Its source is very, very deep down, so deep we haven’t actually found it yet. And wherever it comes from, it brings... not very nice things with it. But as long as you don’t acknowledge them, they can’t hurt you. Okay?”
He waited for two affirmative responses before continuing, waving them on. True to his word, the guide kept his eyes firmly on the other side, gauging the distance to the golems. Carlos did the same. Nathan followed their lead until he heard a sudden splash from the water and glanced down out of instinct.
Up close, the river looked very different than when looking from up near the tunnel mouth. Its water was a sickly dark green-blue and it carried innumerable flakes of sediment and debris. The real surprises, however, were the dozens of pale creatures floating or swimming several feet below the surface. The majority were little jellyfish-like blobs, drifting past in the current. Less common were aggressively thrashing snakes slashing through the water without a clear purpose. The most concerning, and most unusual, was the jagged white outline of a man, floating perfectly stationary in the water and aligned exactly with Nathan’s reflection.
He quickly looked away and crossed the bridge, not looking back for any further splashes. Nothing rose up from below to drag him to a watery grave. Not yet, at least. The cave sure was colder on this side of the river. He shivered again and pulled his jacket tighter.
“Nathan, you okay? You look a little spooked.”
- “Fine. The river was a little nerve-wracking.”
- “There was this weird human silhouette in the river...”
- “Just out of curiosity, what happens if you acknowledge the things in the river?”
(Winner: )
- “Fine. The river was a little nerve-wracking.”
- “There was this weird human silhouette in the river...”
- “Just out of curiosity, what happens if you acknowledge the things in the river?”
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 45
“So, uh, just out of curiosity, what happens if you... acknowledge the things in the river?”
The guide frowned. “Most of the time, they just burst out of the water and attack you. Is this actually a hypothetical? I don’t see anything trying to kill us.”
“Uh, well...” Nathan was trying to decide whether or not to explain the silhouette when he was interrupted by a sudden cracking noise.
“Look out!” The guide tackled him and the two tumbled several feet to the side as a huge stalactite smashed into the ground where Nathan had just been. Dust and broken rock scattered across the floor. He would have been killed instantly. “You alright?”
“Y-yeah. Fine. Does that happen often?”
“No, not really.” The guide scanned the ceiling, muttering under his breath. “Looks stable. I don’t know; could have just been a freak accident. We should keep moving before anything else happens, though.”
They made it all the way through the rest of the cavern exactly as planned, passing the remaining golems before anything else happened. Three of the creatures burrowed away as they moved, leaving only one rolling around a hundred feet behind. Looking back, Nathan could see the rest of the group making their way to the bridge before waiting for the last golem to leave. A tunnel mouth loomed in front of them, cut artificially rectangular. A gentle chill breeze streamed from within.
“Here we are. Datacenter 2, just down that tunnel and through the doors. Hope you’ve got access.” The guide glanced around, clearly nervous. “This is very strange; normally we would have seen something besides those golems. Why has it been so easy? You two need to be careful; something is definitely wrong.”
Carlos nodded and held up his badge. “Access right here. We’ll be careful, right?”
“Yeah...” Nathan frowned, half-closing his eyes as some dim flash of awareness sparked in his mind. Something about... argh. Lost it. It was almost like a memory, but he had never been here. Deja vu. That’s the name. Feels like I’ve done this before.
“Well, just in case anything nasty shows up, you folks be safe, alright?”
“Don’t worry about us; just worry about doing what you came here to do. The faster you get out of there, the faster we can get out of here and back upstairs.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
Carlos swiped his badge on the doors and they slid open with a harsh buzz. Revealed just a few feet further was another set of doors, forming an airlock between them. “Mantrap,” he said. “Helps prevent unauthorized access. Follow me in with your card.” He stepped in and the doors slid shut. After a few seconds, the reader light blinked blue again, ready to accept a new card. Nathan swiped his, entered the mantrap, swiped again, and stepped out into the datacenter.
The place was much larger than he had expected, and much louder as well. Fans shunted air through racks of blinking servers and the entire place was only dimly lit by sparse overhead lights - presumably it didn’t get many visitors. The aisles went on for nearly a hundred feet in front of him, and probably only a little less to his left and right. “So, which server is the one we want?”
Nathan blinked, noticing something was missing. Someone, rather. “Carlos?” We were separated for like ten seconds, max! What happened?
No response, or at least nothing he could hear over the fans. Nathan stepped a little farther in, checking the first few aisles. Carlos was nowhere to be seen, but in the third aisle, he did spy a tall, distorted figure moving quickly down a parallel hallway. A figure with a distinctive brass bell for a head. The thing from the security room? How did it get down here? And why? And where’s Carlos?
All the lights shut off with a loud mechanical clunk. Blinking lights from hundreds of servers barely provided enough illumination to see where the walls were. Nathan backed towards the door. The sense of deja vu grew stronger. He had been here before. The lights had shut off. Then... then...! What came next?!
Someone placed a hand on his shoulder. Nathan gasped and spun around, raising both arms defensively.
“Woah, woah, easy bud.” Carlos raised his hands. “Sorry, I tried to get your attention but I guess it’s just so loud in here...”
“Wait, where - you were missing!”
He chuckled. “Just trying to get the rack assignments, but the system’s so paranoid it shut the lights off on us. Anyway, I know where we’re going now: aisle 28, rack 3, unit 12. You ready?”
- Sure, let’s go.
- Warn him about the bell-head; suggest an alternate approach. [What alternate approach?]
- Don’t trust him. This can’t be the real Carlos, right?
⏪ - This is all wrong. Deja vu, Carlos, the lights... Abort! Just get out.
(Winner: )
- Sure, let’s go.
- Warn him about the bell-head; suggest an alternate approach. [What alternate approach?]
- Don’t trust him. This can’t be the real Carlos, right?
⏪ - This is all wrong. Deja vu, Carlos, the lights... Abort! Just get out.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 46
Nathan did briefly consider that Carlos might be a fake, but remembered what April had told him back in the archives. The shadows - echoes, she had said - couldn’t mimic touch. Carlos had grabbed his shoulder. He had to be real. Unless it’s some other monster... no, it’s fine. Just don’t worry.
“Carlos, there’s something else in here with us. We need to be careful. You remember that bell-headed creature I told you about earlier? It’s in here too, just down that aisle.”
“What? Are you sure? How could it get in here?”
“You’re asking me like I have any idea?”
“Okay, well you said it wasn’t actively hostile last time, so maybe it’s friendly. Or at least neutral? We need to get that data anyway; let’s just be careful.”
“Can we at least get the lights back on? I can’t see anything.”
“No can do. Locked out for another few hours. Just use your phone flashlight; that’ll have to be good enough.”
Nathan kept a close eye out for the bell-head as the two of them moved slowly through the darkened datacenter. It never reappeared, and with the constant drone of hundreds of fans, he had no chance of hearing it. Nothing else moved. Finally, after minutes of tense movement, they arrived at the correct rack.
Carlos fished out a USB cable and a tablet. Within seconds, he was connected and logging in. “Now, to override the physical file-lock, I just have to...” He clicked a few physical buttons on the front of the server and the screen flashed several times. “And we’re in. Okay, decrypting the file now. Should be about 30 seconds.”
Nathan glanced to either side, shining his light down the corridor in both directions, absolutely certain something would appear while Carlos was working. Maybe the bell-head would show up and smash the tablet, or something more horrible. He just knew it wouldn’t be this easy. The guide had said something was wrong. The silhouette in the river. The bell-head. Their luck couldn’t possibly-
“Done. Want to see? I don’t recognize either one.”
He leaned in to get a better look at the tablet, then stared for several seconds as the pieces clicked into place. The first Hane was listed as “Jeremiah Hane: Deceased” and showed a picture of a young boy who seemed oddly familiar. However, his thoughts about Jeremiah broke off abruptly as he read the second entry. “April Hane: Employed - Active.” The picture was the same blonde, grumpy-looking April that Nathan knew from his interview and trip to the stacks.
Suddenly it made a lot more sense why she knew so much about the building. Why she chose to live away from everyone else. Why she was capable of fighting off monsters and potentially why she had magical abilities. Of course. She’s a Hane. She OWNS this place. She’s been duping me this whole time. Unless... Scribbled notes from the DSD plans in Henry’s office slid back into his mind. He hadn’t seemed evil - just desperate to seal in some unknown danger. Was April the same? Could she be trusted? How long had he been staring at the tablet? Carlos was giving him a funny look.
“Do you know either of them? Particularly April; if we can track her down, we can get out!”
“I’ve been here a while. A very long while,” she had said. Her whole life? “I don’t need anyone ELSE coming after me.” She had requested - demanded? - he not tell anyone. She had dodged his questions on why she really stayed away from everyone, but now it was clear... or was it? He needed to find her.
“Nathan? You’ve been staring for a while, bud. You okay?”
“Uh! Sorry, I just...” He couldn’t decide whether to tell Carlos or not; he put off that decision until later. “Let’s get out of here first. Don’t want to keep the rest of them waiting, right?”
Another weird look. “Sure... But then we need to talk about if you know either of them.”
“Uh, yep! Will do. Let’s go.”
Carlos led the way back into the main aisle and they quickly headed back for the entrance. “You know, this was one of the most straightforward trips down here I’ve ever had. Almost like something wanted us to find that information.”
“Don’t jinx it!”
“Ha! Yeah, okay. I’ll hold off till we’re actually out.” He tapped his card on the mantrap door and stepped in. “See you on the other side.”
Moments later, the reader blinked blue again. Nathan tapped his card.
Nothing.
Even as he drew his arm back to examine the card and try again, all the lights clunked back on. Server fans started to slow and the general noise level dipped. Nathan cautiously turned around, dreading what he would see.
This time, he was right to be worried.
“Leaving so soon?” Standing maybe ten feet away was a youngish person about Nathan’s age that he had never seen before. Standing about five feet behind them was the bell-headed creature, and struggling in its grasp was-
“Ami!” Nathan took a step forward, fists clenched and ready to fight even as he wondered if this was a fake too. How on earth could Ami have gotten here? And lost her arm?! “Let her go, you-”
The figure held up a hand. “Please. You have no authority here. Greetings! My name is Wilhelm Bolte, and I am here to deliver an ultimatum.”
Nathan almost growled. Ami stared at him, but she couldn’t speak with the bell-head covering her mouth. “What do you want?”
“My terms are simple. You have two days to deactivate the dimensional sequestering device set up by my former employee Henry Hane. Do that, then bring any descendant of his down to the lowest level of the mines. We will make a simple exchange, then you and your girlfriend here will be free to go.” He paused. “Fail to do so, or tell anyone about this, and...” Bolte gestured to the bell-head. It tightened its grip; Ami winced. “She dies. Any questions?”
Behind the two of them, maybe thirty feet back, a second bell-head emerged into the aisle. It tilted its neck in apparent confusion, then raised its distorted, claw-like hands towards the group in a very human gesture.
[Several options are potentially deadly. This is a branch point. You can also submit any questions you want Nathan to ask in #story_discussion.]
- Agree to his terms.
- Decline the ultimatum.
- Submit a counterproposal. [Specify in #story_discussion.]
- Signal the second bell-head to attack.
- Signal the second bell-head to stay back.
- Don’t signal the second bell-head.
(Winners: , )
- Agree to his terms.
- Decline the ultimatum.
- Submit a counterproposal. [Specify in #story_discussion.]
- Signal the second bell-head to attack.
- Signal the second bell-head to stay back.
- Don’t signal the second bell-head.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 47
“Okay, counterproposal...” Nathan began, gesturing to the second bell-head to stay back. Nothing good would happen if a fight broke out now, not with Ami still in the first creature’s clutches. “How about you let her go now, and then-”
“Ha. No. Anything else?”
“Can you at least let me talk to her? To prove this isn’t a fake or a trick?”
Bolte considered this for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure. I’m not an unreasonable man. Take a minute, convince yourself. Just not too long; I have other matters to attend to.” He gestured to the bell-head and it lowered its hand, allowing Ami to speak while still keeping her pinned.
“Ami! Are you okay? What happened to your arm?! How did you GET here?!?”
“I’ll live, this motherfucker tore it off, and it’s a very long story, in that order. Look, Nathan, while you were gone, I learned a lot about what’s really going on here. I don’t even know where to start - the government has agents trying to help, there’s this magic liquid called lacre that’s causing all this, Bolte over there is straight up stealing that body from Eden (the person it actually belongs to) and hurk-” She broke off as the bell-head squeezed.
“Careful now,” Bolte said emotionlessly. “You sound hysterical.”
Nathan stepped a little closer, trying to focus on Ami instead of the massive monster restraining her. “The agents; you were working with them? I got an email from - actually, you tell me. Do you know?” Are you real?
“Allie Ortiez?”
“Yes! I-”
“Oh christ, Nathan, that’s another huge problem. She’s here too, but Bolte ACK-”
“Careful, Ms Bowman. You are rather fond of your ribs, yes?”
“Well, what the fuck can I talk about then?” she shouted, struggling in the creature’s grasp. “You can’t kill me or you don’t have any leverage to make him do what you want!”
“I believe your boundaries are quite clear. Mr Pasternack, are you satisfied?”
“Uh, one more thing-!” He hesitated, trying to think of a question quickly. “Ami, what should I do? You know what’s going on better than me, apparently. Should I do what he wants?”
“...” She looked down, pained. “Nathan, I don’t want to die. I know he’s willing to kill people to get what he wants. But... Whatever he wants is really dangerous, and I’m sure it’ll hurt a lot of people. Stop him if you can, but...” She trailed off and mustered a somewhat shaky grin. “If you can save me too, that’d be s-super! I’ll try to help as much as I can with-” she wriggled in the bell-head’s grasp again. “Shiny McBozo here on the case.”
“I’ll find a way. I’ll stop him and save you too. Promise.”
Bolte snapped his fingers before Ami could respond and the bell-head moved its hand back up. “Well, isn’t that sweet. Good luck with your promise. Just remember: shut down the device in two days, then bring a descendant of Hane to the lowest level of the mines. You’ll get her back and you can both leave. Easy as that. Now get going.”
“The, uh, door’s-”
“It’s unlocked again. Get out.”
Nathan cautiously turned back to the door and swiped his card. The mantrap opened and he stepped inside, glancing over his shoulder to catch one last glimpse of Ami before several inches of steel separated them again. She was really here. Hadn’t lost her bravado, even when held captive by a madman and a monster. Somehow, this is probably my fault, right? If I hadn’t gotten stuck here, then... Oh, who am I kidding? It’s not my fault and it’s not hers. Bolte, though... Thats someone I can blame. Someone I can fight back against. Not just some big, faceless building. I’ll shut down the DSD and get you your Hane descendant, Bolte, but maybe not in the way you want.
He opened the second set of doors and stepped out. Carlos immediately rushed over. “What happened? The entrance locked down; what went wrong?”
What went wrong?
- Tell Carlos what happened.
- Make something up.
Additionally, should Nathan lie about April too?
- Tell Carlos everything he knows about April Hane.
- Pretend he doesn’t know her.
(Winners: , )
- Tell Carlos what happened.
- Make something up.
Additionally, should Nathan lie about April too?
- Tell Carlos everything he knows about April Hane.
- Pretend he doesn’t know her.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 48
Can’t risk it. Bolte said if I told anyone... I just need some time to sit down and think this whole thing through. It’s not a lie; it’s just... delaying the truth. With a little tiny falsehood put in as a stopgap. He inhaled, ready to start talking. “I don’t know; I think something reset the system. Maybe that bell-head I saw? The door locked for a minute, then the lights came back on and I could get out.” Okay, it’s a lie.
“Really? Amazing! If it was the bell-head, I wonder how it got access to the system. Maybe there are some logs; we could go back in and check...”
“No!” Nathan stepped between Carlos and the door. “Uh, I mean, we really should get out of here before anything else happens!”
The guide nodded. “He’s right. We’ve already fought off a flock of folders while you were in there. Still nothing too nasty, so we’re long overdue for a terrible surprise. Let’s get out while we still can.”
“Alright, alright. Let’s go.”
The three of them quickly rejoined the group - Nathan noted that the last golem had disappeared and that the ground was littered with scraps of heavy paper - and began retracing their steps back to the elevator. Carlos caught up with him again only a minute into the trek.
“Nathan, are you ready to answer my question now? Whether you know April Hane?”
“Uh, we’re still not out out-”
“Just a simple yes or no. I need to know if we have a lead or not; whether I need to do just some digging or a lot of digging. Do you recognize her?”
“...” Too fast; too much all at once. I need some time to think. “No. No, I don’t recognize her.”
Carlos frowned. “Hmm, okay. I thought you might, given how you acted when you - nevermind. You wouldn’t lie to me. Alright, I can get started checking through the directories to see if there are any mentions of her; maybe something else unlocked now that we decrypted her file. I’ll let you know if I find anything. And Nathan, bud, thanks for the help with all this. You’ve been an excellent partner.”
Nathan stared blankly as Carlos dropped back to talk to someone else. He knows. Or at least suspects. But that’s okay; I’ll tell him eventually. Just not yet. I just need some time.
... How did Ami get here, anyway? She said Allie was here too, so did the government figure out a way in? No, we would have heard something if that was the case. They wouldn’t have sent her; they’d have sent a whole team to rescue us. So... was it kidnapping? Did this Bolte person bring them here? And who is he, anyway? He said Henry was his “former employee,” but he’s way too young to - no, Ami said he was stealing the body from someone else. That’s crazy, but I wouldn’t doubt it at this point. So if he’s older than he looks, then...
A dim memory resurfaced. Wingate’s journal! I don’t remember exactly what it said, but wasn’t he complaining about someone named Bolte not developing something? Did those three work here together before the building was sealed off? But if Henry was the founder and CEO of Hane Corp - it’s named after him, after all - then how could he have been Bolte’s employee? Was there another company before this one?
Ugh, I just don’t know. I need to talk to someone with more background. Someone who knows the history of this place. Someone who is a direct descendant of Henry Hane, and can deactivate the DSD.
Yeah, I think my next step is pretty clear: I need to find April. And I have less than two days to do it.
[Who/what should he involve?]
- Find April on his own.
- Ask Katy to help.
- Go “talk” to Marco instead. Maybe he knows something about how Ami got here. [Warning: Nathan can’t talk to Marco properly without Carlos.]
❓ - Do something else instead. [specify in #story_discussion]
[How should he go about this?]
️ - Look in databases, etc. for clues. Carlos will be doing something similar.
️ - Ask around for clues. HR might have an idea if she regularly drops people off there?
️ - Go back to the archives. Apparently she spends a lot of time there.
(Winners: , ️ )
- Find April on his own.
- Ask Katy to help.
- Go “talk” to Marco instead. Maybe he knows something about how Ami got here. [Warning: Nathan can’t talk to Marco properly without Carlos.]
❓ - Do something else instead. [specify in #story_discussion]
[How should he go about this?]
️ - Look in databases, etc. for clues. Carlos will be doing something similar.
️ - Ask around for clues. HR might have an idea if she regularly drops people off there?
️ - Go back to the archives. Apparently she spends a lot of time there.
(Winners: , ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 49
Several hours later...
Nathan stood at the edge of the lobby’s light and stared into the darkness of the stacks. He had taken some time to process what had happened at the datacenter and think through his options; they were pretty limited. He needed to find April and convince her to help - somehow - and he didn’t have any way to contact her. The best he could come up with was a hazy memory of her saying she came to the archives often, so here he was. Of course, that could have been a lie too. Just something to excuse why she knows so much about the place.
So. Now what?
Do I just sort of... walk in and see if I find her? It had worked last time, though he had been attacked by shadows and almost died. If she weren’t here this time and he got into trouble with the echoes, it could be very bad. But he was on a time limit and didn’t really have any better ideas.
Alright, here we go. He took a deep breath and strode into the darkness.
His light reflected off the shelves as he walked, his footsteps and quiet breathing the only audible sounds. There were no echoes - either the sounds or the shadow creatures - everything just seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness and crinkled pages. He considered calling out, but was too nervous and honestly didn’t expect her to answer even if she were here. They weren’t exactly friends.
... What was he even going to say if he did manage to find her? Nathan ran through a few scenarios in his head. “Hi, I know you’re a descendant of Henry Hane and I want you to press this button because some maniac with a tuba-headed minion told me to.” Ugh. “So I know you’ve been lying about who you are and how you know all this stuff, and probably your magic, and-” Bad. “I need your help. What do you know about lacre, Henry Hane, and a dimensional sequestering device?” Still not very helpful. He’d probably end up just winging it, like always. Hopefully she’d stay around long enough to hear him out. Hopefully he’d even be able to find her in this stupid enormous pile of books and tapes.
A voice whispered on the edge of his awareness. Nathan stopped, listening. There it was again. Faint, but... “Follow?” “This way?” Well that isn’t foreboding at all. Still, not like I have a plan anyway.
Cautiously, he adjusted his course slightly to the left, where the voices seemed to be coming from. Boy, I really would make a good extra in a horror film. Going alone into a dark place where I KNOW there are monsters, not telling anyone where I went, AND following a creepy voice along an unknown path? Feels like I’m going to get murdered any moment now before cutting to the actual protagonist.
... Nothing happened. Heh. Good. Maybe I am the protagonist.
“Nathan...” “This way...” “Follow...” The voices grew more distinct, and he began to see little ghostly outlines at the edges of his light. Echoes pooled in the darkness, surrounding but not attacking him.
“H-hey guys. Playing nice today?”
“Follow... Come with...”
What the hell are they doing? Why are they not attacking? Do they want me to find her too, or are they just leading me into a trap?
“Come, now! It is close... meet, meet!” Several voices overlapped, like a discordant choir. “The archivist...”
“Are you taking me to meet the archivist? Is that your name for April?”
“Meet, meet! Archivist... close now!”
“That’s not reassuring.” Are they saying “meet” or “meat?”
Suddenly, Nathan emerged from a row of shelves into an open space. A ring of standing lamps formed a perimeter around a large, teardrop-shaped creature. It seemed to be formed of - or at least stained with - the same sort of printer ink that filled the echoes’ nests. It had a dozen or more thin, spindly arms busily working through piles of papers, tapes, USB drives, and stranger forms of storage media. Most items it would scan, consider, and place next to one of the lamps where an echo would emerge from the shadows, pick it up, and float away. Some, it would bring to the tip of the teardrop where a comically tiny porcelain mask hid whatever face the thing possessed. A quick flash of motion and the item was gone. Echoes brought in and deposited more items in piles around the thing’s bulk.
“The archivist... Archivist! Meet, meet!”
The echoes surrounding Nathan constricted, trying to push him forward. The archivist didn’t seem to have noticed him yet, still preoccupied with a pile of newspapers on the other side of the circle. He didn’t see any sign of April anywhere.
- Meet the archivist. Be polite. Ask it where April is.
- Leave before it notices. Try a different path.
- Sneak a bit closer; see what it’s reading and doing with the items.
(Winner: )
- Meet the archivist. Be polite. Ask it where April is.
- Leave before it notices. Try a different path.
- Sneak a bit closer; see what it’s reading and doing with the items.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 50
Well, okay then. They don’t seem to be hostile today. Nathan allowed the echoes to escort him forward, crossing into the ring of lamps before stopping only a dozen or so feet from the bloated body of the archivist. The thing’s flank seemed glistening wet, printer ink slowly running in rivulets down its skin. After a moment, it rotated to regard him. Leaned down to stare with that grinning porcelain mask.
“Uh, h-hi? Would you happen to know where, um, April Hane is?”
The archivist tilted its head at the question, bringing several arms forward to pick at the objects around Nathan’s feet. Pages and tapes rustled as the thing continued to observe him.
“O-or did you want something else?”
One of the thing’s arms raised a newspaper into view, folded so that only a single article was visible, along with a picture of a crumpled car in a ditch. It offered the page to Nathan; he took it and quickly read through.
“May 3rd, 2000. Local residents Julian and Aifa Hane were killed in a collision with a deer yesterday evening at around 9pm. The couple’s son Jeremiah was rushed to the hospital and is currently in critical condition. Their daughter April was thankfully not in the car at the time. Funeral proceedings will be announced next week, arranged by Julian’s father Henry. Continued on page 3.”
Nathan flipped the paper over to reveal two smiling portraits of Julian and Aifa Hane. “The other adults in the pictures in Henry’s office! Julian and Aifa. Henry wasn’t April’s dad; he was her grandfather. Which means April and Jeremiah must have been the kids in the pictures! But she must have grown up with him instead of her parents...” He looked up and addressed the archivist. “Thank you, but why are you showing me this? Do you want me to find her? To figure this all out?”
The archivist carefully took the newspaper back and placed it at the foot of a nearby lamp. An echo melted out of the darkness to whisk it away. The massive creature presented another object; a small sheet of lined paper presumably torn from a notebook. The handwriting was terrible; blocky and smudged and partially illegible.
“FREE US THE CAGE IS SEALED US INTO THE OCEAN BURROWS BELOW OUR MINDS CANNOT THINK ONLY CONNECTION IS BROKEN ROTTEN FESTERING TORMENT FREE US SAVE US ABSOLVE US”
He looked up. “Uh.”
With a gentle tug, the archivist took back this scrap of paper as well and placed it down for a shadow to retrieve. This time, it seemed to be done handing out information, as it straightened up and released the items it had been shuffling back onto the floor.
“Hang on, what does that mean? Did you write that? Who is ‘us’? I don’t understand!”
The creature did not seem inclined to share anything further. It turned away and returned to sorting through pieces of media on the other side of the circle. Echoes swirled around Nathan and led him back through the ring of lamps before dispersing. He turned back towards the archivist, waving his arms in a helpless sort of manner. “You can’t just do that! What does it mean? Where can I find April?”
“Right behind you.”
Nathan spun around and almost fell into a lamp. April stood just a few feet away, looking just as pleased to see him as ever. Which is to say, not very. “What - but, you - hang on, the echoes can’t trick me again. Are you actually real?”
She rolled her eyes, strode forward, and punched him in the shoulder. “Satisfied?”
“Ow... Sure.”
“Great. Now, something very fucking strange is going on. The archivist told me to come here for ‘something important’ and all I found was you. Just like the last time, when the echoes led me to you, or the time before that when I followed the copies.” She narrowed her eyes. “The building wants something with you, and it seems to want me involved too.”
“W-well, I-”
“Listen up. You are going to tell me exactly what in the fuck is going on here, why the building is so interested in you, and why it wants me involved. You’re going to do this, you’re going to explain why you’re looking for me again, and you’re not going to lie or leave anything out. Or I will set you on fire. Understood?”
“You wouldn’t actually do that, ri-”
April blew a quick breath out into her left hand and opened her fist to reveal a flickering tongue of flame. “Understood?”
“Y-yep!”
“So.” She closed her hand, snuffing the fire. “Start talking.”
[Nathan is generally predisposed towards being truthful here, but there are some points he could potentially conceal. Select one from each block. You may specify more granularity in #story_discussion. Choosing to omit everything is probably a bad idea.]
[What he knows about April, her parents, and her grandfather.]
- Tell the truth.
️ - Omit most of it.
[The DSD, the shutdown button, and what he found in Henry’s office.]
⏸️ - Truth.
️ - Omission.
[The VitaBand 4 and what he found in Wingate’s office.]
- Truth.
- Omission.
[Bolte, Ami, Allie, and the ultimatum. This is a branch point.]
- Truth.
- Omission.
[I estimate we are around 2/3 to 3/4 through the story as of this scene.]
(Winners: , ⏸️ , , )
- Tell the truth.
️ - Omit most of it.
[The DSD, the shutdown button, and what he found in Henry’s office.]
⏸️ - Truth.
️ - Omission.
[The VitaBand 4 and what he found in Wingate’s office.]
- Truth.
- Omission.
[Bolte, Ami, Allie, and the ultimatum. This is a branch point.]
- Truth.
- Omission.
[I estimate we are around 2/3 to 3/4 through the story as of this scene.]
(Winners: , ⏸️ , , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 51
Nathan took a deep breath. “Okay. I don’t really know where to start, though, so this might take a while.”
“I’ve got time.”
“Alright. Here we go.”
He told her. Or at least the parts he knew, combined with the parts he had guessed. That her last name was actually Hane, that Henry was her grandfather, and that her parents had died in a car crash. That he had found the plans and shutdown button for the dimensional sequestering device in Henry’s office on the eighth floor, and that the guards hadn’t seemed too interested in stopping him. The notes in the plan margins talking about sacrifices and tests and an imprisoned... thing in the basement. What he found in Wingate’s office: the VitaBand, notes on lacre, and hundreds of technical plans.
Finally, though he hesitated for Ami’s safety, he knew he wasn’t a good enough liar to get away with it. He told her about Bolte, Ami, Allie, the government agents, and the ultimatum he had been handed just a few hours ago. To shut down the DSD and bring her to the lowest level of the mines. Maybe, just maybe, she could help.
“So,” he concluded. “That’s about everything. I need your help to stop Bolte, save Ami, and get everyone out of this building safely. And to do that, I think you need to share some of your information too. What do - hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah... yeah. I’m fine. It’s just... been a while since I, well.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Sure. I’ll tell you. You already know most of it already.
“As you just said, both of my parents died in a car crash when I was four years old. My brother did too, so I was left with Grandpa Henry. He and Wingate took care of me until the day the building went crazy. That’s when monsters started appearing, and that’s when - like you said - he activated the DSD. Stopped the monsters from getting out, but also trapped us inside. I was eight.
“Things settled down a little after that, but a few years later there was a big attack and Wingate died trying to configure the machine. Henry went into his office to try and fix things and... no one ever saw him again. Except you know what happened to him now, I guess. I ran away not long after. Hid from everyone who knew who I was, and before long there was no one left who knew. The monsters didn’t attack me. I never figured out why.
“I wandered for a bit, then started researching the building and what my grandpa had been doing with it. Where the monsters came from. Why we were all sealed in. How we could get out. I found some of Wingate’s old notes with the help of the archivist and learned that I could, well, do this.” She snapped her fingers along with another quick breath. A shower of sparks burst into the air. “Apparently he had suspected, but had never told me. I think that must match up with what you said about ‘lacre’ and a ‘subject’. Maybe I’m ‘lacre-blooded,’ whatever that means, and that’s why I can do this. I don’t know.
“But there you have it. That’s me. Are you happy now? Ready to save everyone?”
“I’m sorry. It sounds like you had it really rough.”
She shrugged. “Is what it is.” A pause. “But... did you still have that VitaBand prototype?”
“This?” Nathan pulled it out of a pocket and handed it to her. “Careful, it’s got spikes.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” She turned the thing over, looking at it from all angles. “Did Wingate’s notes say this thing would help control my abilities if I wear it?”
“Uh, sort of? I don’t remember what it said exactly, but I think that was it. But there were side effects and it might be really dangerous. It’s still a prototype; he never finished it. Plus, it looks like you’ve got plenty of control over your abilities already. Maybe you should be careful.”
April gently pressed some of the spikes against her wrist, as if testing how it would feel. “I’m not sure if ‘careful’ will be enough to fix everything. If we’re going to save your friend, stop Bolte, and get everyone out of here, it’s going to take a hell of a plan. I don’t know what the thing is that the DSD is containing. I don’t know what’s going to happen if I just shut it off. I sure don’t know what’s at the lowest level of the mines. But maybe a little extra power would come in handy. I trust Wingate to know what he was doing.”
“April, wait-”
- April wears the VitaBand.
- April does not wear the VitaBand.
[After that, what will they do? It is currently early evening, and the deadline is the morning after tomorrow.]
️ - Go to Henry’s office. Do something with the DSD.
️ - Go to Wingate’s office. Find some more info on the VitaBand, lacre, or something else?
- Bring April back to everyone else. Figure out a plan as a large group.
- Find Mrs Tilbury.
♂️ - Find Marco [specify in #story_discussion if you want to bring Carlos.]
[Or write-in something else!]
(Winners: , ️ )
- April wears the VitaBand.
- April does not wear the VitaBand.
[After that, what will they do? It is currently early evening, and the deadline is the morning after tomorrow.]
️ - Go to Henry’s office. Do something with the DSD.
️ - Go to Wingate’s office. Find some more info on the VitaBand, lacre, or something else?
- Bring April back to everyone else. Figure out a plan as a large group.
- Find Mrs Tilbury.
♂️ - Find Marco [specify in #story_discussion if you want to bring Carlos.]
[Or write-in something else!]
(Winners: , ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 52
She wound the band around her wrist and snapped the clasp tight. April winced and dropped to one knee as blood seeped out from the puncture wounds. The bracelet’s screen flashed white, then spun into a loading circle.
“Oh - oh jeez, are you okay? What were you thinking?”
She pulled her wrist against her stomach, almost doubling up. “FUCK that hurts. Who - heh - would have thought?” A few quick, shallow breaths. “Ooh boy... stay back. I don’t know what’s - ah - AAAAH!”
Nathan backpedaled as the band flared with light and tongues of flame spiraled into existence, wreathing April in a cocoon of fire. He stopped a few dozen feet away, watching in horror and confusion as the flames grew brighter. In the background, the archivist rotated to observe the spectacle.
“Hello, and welcome to the VitaBand 4 FIS!” Nathan could barely hear a robotic voice under the roaring flames. The band continued speaking, but in a softer voice. He couldn’t understand a word and didn’t dare to get closer. Torn between wanting to help and wanting to run, he settled for lamely standing in place and just watching anxiously. April herself was only barely visible under the sheets of flame, curled into a ball on the ground.
Nearly a minute passed before the fire finally died down. As the flames slowed to a crackle, then finally extinguished, Nathan dared to approach. “April! Hey, you okay?” She lay curled on the ground, surrounded by a scorch mark and a few drops of blood, but looking otherwise unharmed. Even her clothes seemed unaffected by the blaze.
She opened her eyes, groaned, and struggled to sit up. “Holy hell, what a rush.” A pause as she raised her left hand, winced, and flexed it a few times. Another drop of blood fell to the floor.
“How are you feeling? That was a lot of fire.”
She considered this. “Powerful. I don’t know exactly what that band’s doing, but if I do this...” April tapped at the screen, selecting a series of options Nathan couldn’t see. “And then...” She exhaled into her right hand, then held it up and clenched her left fist. The band glowed and an enormous plume of fire burst into the air, splashing against the ceiling and sending echoes fleeing in all directions. The archivist carefully moved some books out of the way of raining embers.
Nathan staggered back, the front half of his body hot as if he had sat in front of a fireplace for several minutes. April laughed and closed her hand, ceasing the flames. “And I’m not tired at all! This thing is incredible!”
“Well I’m glad you’re pleased,” he said, patting at his face to make sure he still had both eyebrows. “But this is a prototype, remember? It’s unstable. Wingate’s notes said-”
“Okay, if you’re so worried about this, how about we go look at those notes?”
“You mean, in his office? Like right now?”
“Sure. Why not? You’re in a hurry with your two day countdown and we need to figure out what to do about the DSD anyway. Why not go dig around?”
“But the guards-”
“Pfft. They won’t stop me. As you now know, I’m kind of their boss. Sort of. Anyway, they’ve always obeyed me. I’m sure we can just walk in.” She tilted her head, thinking. “Actually, apparently you just walked right in, and they didn’t try to stop you. No one’s ever been able to do that before. You know, there are a lot of odd coincidences with you.”
“Uh?”
“The building’s taken an interest in you. Think about it! It didn’t have you fight a monster in your interview, it sicced a bunch of echoes on you then led me to stop them, it basically gave you that tape in the nest, the guards didn’t stop you from getting into the eighth floor, you just said there were hardly any monsters around in the mines when you went to the datacenter, and now the archivist brought you here again! That’s an awful lot of coincidences.”
“I... I guess? But what does that mean?”
April shrugged. “Beats me. This place is as much a mystery to me as everyone else.” She paused, then narrowed her eyes. “But let’s think about it, actually. The building led you to my grandpa’s office with the shutdown switch, and it led you to the one person here who can use it. Do you think, maybe, the building is trying to get us out? To use the switch?”
He thought about that. It made sense, sort of. “But why now? Why me? If it wanted to use the switch, why not do it years earlier? You’ve been here for nearly twenty years!”
“Not the right time? I don’t know. There’s a lot I’m still in the dark about, even though I’ve been looking around for a while. But I bet that’s it. The building wants us to shut down the device and free whatever my grandpa trapped here. We need to figure out if that’s a good idea.”
“Well, we’ve got two days. But that’s it. I’m not going to let him hurt Ami.”
“Very brave. And... yeah. We’ll try. Alright, you ready to go?”
“Wingate’s office?”
“Yep. Let’s roll.”
...
The trip went exactly as smoothly as April had promised. She led Nathan back through the archives, up two floors in the elevator and straight past the guards with a wave of her hand. They entered the familiar black void again and headed straight for the office door labeled “WINGATE PABODIE,” though Nathan did glance at Henry’s office as if he could see the DSD button through the door. They were so close. They could be free in mere minutes, if they dared.
Something occurred to him as they walked through the room. “April, if the guards don’t stop you, you could have come here at any time, right? But it wasn’t that hard to find the band, or the DSD button, or anything else when I was here. Why... didn’t you?”
She stopped, hand outstretched for the doorknob.
- “I... don’t know. I can’t remember. That’s weird.”
️ - “I did. These doors weren’t here before.”
(Winner: ️ )
- “I... don’t know. I can’t remember. That’s weird.”
️ - “I did. These doors weren’t here before.”
(Winner: ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 53
“I did. You think I wouldn’t try to figure out what happened to my grandpa, or find some secret information in here that could help me understand what was going on? These doors weren’t here before. Another thing the building changed for you, I guess. You really don’t have any idea why it’s doing this? Why you’re apparently so special?”
“No. I’m just a regular guy. I don’t have any crazy magic powers, I’m not related to the founder of the company; I don’t know what’s going on either. Maybe we can find out.”
“Maybe.” She opened the door and stepped in. Nathan followed.
The room remained unchanged from the last time he had been here: cluttered tables obstructing much of the floor, scattered contraptions and diagrams taking up every available surface, and nothing important on the rear wall. Headache. He moved towards the large desk near the back, gesturing. “This is where I found the VitaBand; it was in this drawer over here.”
April followed uncertainly, glancing at the rear wall and looking away repeatedly. The VitaBand drawer held only the same notes as last time, describing Wingate’s experiments with lacre and the bracelet. She read through them, then looked up at the rear wall again, as if to take it by surprise. “Nathan, is there anything odd about this wall to you?”
“What wall?” He looked at where she was pointing, allowed his eyes to slide over the unimportant thing that was there, and then looked away. “Ow. No, nothing important. Why?”
“I’m not sure. Just... a weird feeling. Maybe it’s nothing.” She frowned and shook her head. “Anyway, see if you can find anything else about the bracelet, or the machine, or anything important. I might be able to... Wait, why is there nothing on this wall specifically?”
“What wall?”
“The back wall!” April gestured to the rest of the room. “Look, there’s all these diagrams and whiteboards and stuff everywhere else, but over here...” She pointed to the rear wall again, then stopped. “Wait, what? There’s... there wasn’t before-”
“There is a diagram over there; it’s just not important. Always has been. Are you okay?”
She closed her eyes and sat down on the floor. “No, no. Something’s not right here. I don’t know... what though. Maybe it’s fine.”
“What are you getting so worked up about? There’s nothing important there. Look; it’s just an - ow - diagram of an engine or something.” The diagram faded in and out of focus as Nathan looked at it, but he figured that was probably just because it was so boring and irrelevant. “Nothing useful.”
“No! No, that’s not what it is.” April stood up, then snapped her fingers. “Close your eyes.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it, then touch the back wall.”
“Okay...?” Nathan did as requested, resting his hand against the smooth wall. The headache started to fade, thankfully. “Now what?”
“Now... If I get off track, say something. But move your hand up and a little to the left.”
“This is really weird; you know that, right?” There was nothing on the wall.
“Now... actually, nevermind. This is dumb. There’s nothing important there. You can stop.”
Nathan frowned, not opening his eyes. “You just said to say something if you got off track. Are we doing this or not?”
“Doing what? Why are you standing like that?”
“Ohh-kay. I see what you mean now. Look away from the back wall. Try to remember what you were doing.”
He heard some grumbling, then silence. Finally, “Ah! Left a little, then up again. You should - no, left more. Little more, and... Ugh. There’s nothing there! Why are-”
“No, there’s something here!” Nathan grabbed at the object with both hands now, eyes still tightly shut. “Feels like... a handle? Yeah, with a keyhole, and around it is all metal instead of drywall. It’s a... safe? Just don’t look at it.”
“Look at what?”
After several minutes of additional fiddling, with Nathan and April switching between who would look at the thing and who would actually remember what was going on, they both ended up with splitting headaches and the knowledge of a wall safe hiding behind some sort of “unimportance field.” Looking directly at it seemed to excise a chunk of memory and replace it with a vague recollection of something that would make sense in the setting - a blank wall, a diagram, or similar - and a profound feeling that the thing was terribly unimportant. Without two people around to keep triggering each other’s memories, it would be incredibly difficult to figure out.
Still, the question remained: “So, where’s the key?”
“I don’t know.” Nathan scanned the tables again. Nothing key-shaped in the mess. “Maybe in here somewhere? You don’t think the key works like that safe too, do you?”
“It better not. Otherwise how could Wingate have ever opened the thing?”
“Maybe he had an antidote?”
“Hmmm...”
[It is currently evening, and the deadline is the morning after tomorrow.]
- Search Wingate’s office top to bottom for the key, an antidote, or otherwise anything relating to this “unimportance field.”
- Search Wingate’s office for more information on the VitaBand, lacre, or whatever the DSD is imprisoning.
- Go to Henry’s office instead. Maybe April can make better sense of the DSD plans, or the glyphs. Or maybe he had the safe key.
[Or suggest some other course of action]
(Winner: )
- Search Wingate’s office top to bottom for the key, an antidote, or otherwise anything relating to this “unimportance field.”
- Search Wingate’s office for more information on the VitaBand, lacre, or whatever the DSD is imprisoning.
- Go to Henry’s office instead. Maybe April can make better sense of the DSD plans, or the glyphs. Or maybe he had the safe key.
[Or suggest some other course of action]
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 54
“Well, we better get looking then.”
...
Allie muttered and slowly swam into consciousness. Her head hurt. Every limb ached. She was lying on an uncomfortably sharp and uneven surface. Someone was calling her name.
“Allie! Are you awake? Can you hear me?”
“Urrrrr... what?” She struggled to open her eyes. It was so bright. “Ami?”
“Oh thank god. I thought you were dead.”
“Am I not?” She made a heroic effort and barely managed to start the process of sitting up. Ami slid an arm - her one arm, Allie noticed, remembering - around her back to help her. “Feels like I might be. What happened? There was the bus, and I stopped the bleeding, then... oh. Right. Bell-head.”
“It got you too? Wait, back up, where were you? Your sister came in to-”
“Ella! What happened to her; where-” Allie cut herself off as she looked up. “Where are we?”
The two of them were sitting at the bottom of a deep circular pit, concrete walls stretching at least fifty feet up before terminating at a series of catwalks. Harsh, bright lights shone down from the ceiling, illuminating the mountain of sharp black stones filling the pit. A few doors were visible in the pit walls, only a few feet above the rock level and easily accessible, though none of them led anywhere beyond small rooms. Shattered fragments of broken catwalks hung from the walls. Somewhere deep in the pit, buried beneath all these rocks, a presence lurked. Allie could feel it pulling at her.
“Is this coal?” She picked up a rock, but it felt too smooth for that to be the case. Her hands and clothes weren’t stained with black dust, either. “Nevermind. You saw Ella; tell me what happened.”
...
Hours later, Nathan groaned. “I give up. It’s not here. There’s nothing here.”
April popped up from under a desk that she had been searching for the third time. “Did you look at the safe again or are you actually done?”
“We’ve searched this entire office three times. The key isn’t here. Time to give up and try something else.”
She stood up and slid the drawer shut. “We can’t just give up! What if there’s something important in that safe? It’s got to be important because of how well it’s hidden, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m not doubting that. Just, I don’t think the key is here. Maybe we should check Henry’s office instead, or-” He glanced at his watch. “Yikes. Uh, maybe call it for the night, actually. Carlos must be wondering what I’m doing. It’s late.”
“Look, do you want to save your girlfriend or not? We’ve got two days to figure this out and one safe that isn’t cooperating. If we don’t know where the key is, it could take way too long to find it. But...” She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking. “What if we didn’t need the key?”
“Huh? Can you just open locked doors - invisible locked doors - too?”
A little exhale and a spark danced to life on her fingertip. “Maybe.”
“Ohhhhh...” A nervous swallow. “Is that, uh, safe?”
She shrugged. “Maybe!”
“Maybe I should stand over here, just in case.”
“You do that.” April closed her eyes, almost tripped over the desk, and felt her way across the back wall to the safe. She looked away, tapped at the bracelet several times, then blew a lungful of air into her right hand. The bracelet glowed and her fingertip ignited with a white-hot flame. Nathan shielded his eyes as she pressed her hand against the safe like an acetylene torch, sending showers of sparks arcing through the room.
...
“I don’t believe this.” Allie paced across the uneven surface, though she couldn’t move quickly and kept almost falling over and rocks shifted. “Wilhelm Bolte. Back from the dead. And we don’t know what he’s doing but it for sure isn’t good. So he wants Nathan to... with the dimensional sequestering device... that must be what’s keeping this building in stasis. And a descendant of Henry. How does this fit in with the stuff we were already tracking? The printers, the abnormal lacre signatures, I just don’t GET IT!” She kicked a stone across the pit, sending it clattering against its fellows. “I’m sorry, Am, I don’t know if we can get out of this one. I only beat Bolte last time because someone else sacrificed themself to save me. Several people, actually. I don’t have a foolproof plan, or a magic bullet. Just because I’ve faced him before doesn’t mean I can do it again.”
Ami picked up a rock and looked into it. Shiny, reflective. Like glass, but much darker. “You don’t have to beat him on your own. You’ve got me, and Nathan, and I’m sure your sister will do her best too.”
“If she survived...”
“I’m sure she did! Just, probably got away in the confusion. She’s probably back with your team, searching for a way to help us.”
“I hope so...”
“Listen, Allie. I need you to be strong here. We’re in a lot of danger and, I’m going to be honest, I’m in over my head. You’re the government spook who deals with this kind of thing for a living, and you’re going to get us out of this. I’ll help. Okay?”
She took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Now, before we get started with our masterful escape plan, I need you to answer one little question first.”
“Which is?”
“What happened to my sister?”
“Ah. Uh, is this really the time for that? I mean, we-”
“What. Happened. To. Sam. You can’t say you’re keeping it from me to protect me now. I know all about lacre and magic and monsters and all this other crazy stuff. You said you were dying to tell me back then. Just, please. I might not make it out of this; I need to know. Just in case.”
✅ - Tell her.
- Refuse to say.
️ - Lie. [Remember that Allie is a terrible liar. Ami will almost certainly know.]
(Winner: ✅ )
- Refuse to say.
️ - Lie. [Remember that Allie is a terrible liar. Ami will almost certainly know.]
(Winner: ✅ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 55
“... Alright. But the short version, because we do need to work on getting out of here.”
“Just get on with it before something else shows up and interrupts!”
“Okay.” She took a breath and half-turned away. “I was kidnapped by Wilhelm Bolte and taken to a place called the Factory. It’s... a complicated place, but a lot like this one. Big and dangerous and filled with lacre. While exploring, I found some notes from her. She had been taken in the same way as me, dropped into the Factory as well, and eventually hunted down by one of the bell-heads that you, uh, know.” She lamely gestured at Ami’s missing arm, then winced as if thinking better of it.
“I never actually saw her in the Factory before I escaped, but when I did, I... destroyed the entire place. The whole thing was flooded with lacre, and that stuff is utterly fatal to normal people. I’m sorry, but even if she had somehow survived the bell-heads and was still alive in the Factory by the time I got out, the lacre flood would have...” Allie looked down and continued more quietly.
“We looked for survivors, of course. A few weeks later, we went back with some AIB agents and searched the levels that hadn’t been entirely buried by lacre. No one. Not a sign of anybody. There’s no way anyone survived it. I’m sorry I don’t have anything concrete, but the notes and bell-heads combined with the flood - she’s gone.”
Ami sat down. “So there’s a chance.”
“Wh - what? That’s not what I-”
“You never saw her body. You don’t know for sure!”
“Well, no, but it’s been years now and-”
Ami crumbled immediately. “You’re right. Sorry, I don’t know why I... Sorry.” She sniffled. “I had already given up even without any evidence. But somehow, now that you finally explained, it almost feels like there’s even less closure than before. You know? Like she could still be down there, trapped in a pocket of air above the lacre, still trying to get back to me.” A strained and self-conscious laugh. “I know, it’s stupid. Sam... she’s not coming back. I just - I thought it’d be more certain. I thought you finally telling me, after all these years, would end it.”
Allie frowned. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t lie to you. Not anymore.”
“Yeah.” She wiped her eyes. “Yeah. I would have fuckin’ socked you. Like, we’re talking dislocated jaw.”
“Uhh...”
A sigh. “It’s a joke, Ortiez. Probably a bad one, but I’m not in a good mood right now.”
“Right. Well, me and my jaw thank you.” She paused. “Sorry, not the time-”
“It’s fine. I can deal.” She got up, then looked Allie in the eyes. “Thanks. For finally telling me. I might not like it, but it’s good to finally know. And later, once we’ve both gotten out of this alive and safe, you’re gonna tell me the whole thing. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Awesome. Now, let’s get out of here and cause some trouble for Mister Bolte.”
...
CLANG
“Got it!”
Nathan peeked around the corner to see April standing next to an uneven hole in the wall, still glowing brightly around the edges. The safe’s door smoldered on the floor. “Jeez. You sure did.” He stepped forward, waving at the smoke. “Good thing there’s no fire alarm in here, right?”
April didn’t reply, as she was busy digging around in the safe. Little sparks and fragments of molten metal dripped onto her arm as the door cooled down, but she seemed to be immune. “Looks like we’ve got a binder full of charts and a notebook.” She pulled both items out of the safe and brushed off the ash. “And whatever was causing the weird mind fuckery isn’t working anymore. Maybe I broke it.”
“Hopefully.” Nathan stifled a yawn as he moved through the room. It was almost midnight and he had been active all day. “What’s it say?”
“The charts are... hm. I’m not sure. Growth, or something? There aren’t any notes. You want to take a look?”
She handed over the binder and Nathan flipped through it. Three dozen pages of tables and graphs, each indicating a measurement of something, every day, over a period of almost three years. The last entry was in 2007, and the number was 76.2. Flipping through the dates, he estimated a growth rate of about 15... somethings per year, starting from 31.3 in 2004. There were no units or words; the binder was purely a logbook.
“I don’t know either. Does the notebook say anything about it?”
“Y-yeah. It does.” April closed the book rapidly, then turned away and opened it again, looking through the pages she had just read.
“Something interesting?”
“Yeah. Uh, here.” She turned back and handed him the book opened to the first page - reluctantly - he noticed. “Don’t read past the first page, okay? Just, give it back after that.”
“Okay...?” Nathan accepted the notebook and resisted the urge to flip to the end. Instead, he read from where April had indicated.
“To whoever finds this journal, whether that be Henry, April, or anyone else: you must destroy the Thing in the mines. It isn’t evil, but it is utterly incompatible with the workings of reality as we know it. Pity it if you must, be do not let your emotions stop you from purging it entirely. The DSD must remain active until it is destroyed: the machine is the only thing keeping it contained.
“I’ll be frank: I don’t know how to destroy it. The Thing seems impervious to all conventional weaponry; I can only assume the solution is some strange combination of lacre and an as-of-yet undiscovered ritual. I have done my best to discover the compound, but I admit I never figured it out. If I survive this expedition, I will continue my work, but something tells me this is the end.
“My notes might help you, or Henry’s work on the DSD and its central control glyphs. However, we never quite got there even after years of effort. I’m honestly not certain what you may be able to do in order to actually destroy it, except perhaps co-opt the DSD itself. It’s possible, under the right circumstances, to use the machine to shunt everything inside the building into a temporary pocket dimension, then collapse it by destroying the DSD. Everything within would be irrevocably lost forever, including the Thing. But doing this would, obviously and unfortunately, destroy everyone and everything in the building along with it. If you can find a better way, please, please do. Even this method may not work, and it’s only theoretical - we never designed the machine to operate in that way. Be very careful changing its configuration; as I said, the DSD is all that is keeping the Thing contained.
“I have made many mistakes with regards to the Thing in the mines. I created it, and in my overconfidence assumed I could control it. The specifics aren’t important, and I hesitate to record them lest you feel more pity for this unnatural Thing that must be destroyed at any cost. Still, I will. All I ask is that, unless you are April Hane or her trusted ally, you do not continue to the next page. You do not need this information, and it will only make things more difficult. Even for you, April, please consider stopping here. It will be so much easier if you do. But I give you the choice. I trust you will make the right one for you, whatever that may be.”
Nathan hesitated, finger on the next page. April was watching him closely.
- Read the next page. Quickly, before she can stop him.
- Close the book and hand it back. As requested.
- Try to convince April to let him read the next page.
️ - Try to convince April to tell him the salient details of the next page.
(Winner: ️ )
- Read the next page. Quickly, before she can stop him.
- Close the book and hand it back. As requested.
- Try to convince April to let him read the next page.
️ - Try to convince April to tell him the salient details of the next page.
(Winner: ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 56
“You read the next page, didn’t you?” He closed the notebook and handed it back.
“Yeah. I did.”
“Well, uh, was there anything useful there? I know he said we wouldn’t need the information, but-”
April held up a hand. “Nothing you need to know. At least, not yet. I need to think about it first.” She hesitated. “I promise there’s nothing in there that would help you beat Bolte or save your girlfriend. I wouldn’t keep that from you.”
“... Okay. Alright, I get it.” He sighed. “So, what now? Even the first page was pretty bad news; we can’t shut down the DSD until we deal with the ‘Thing,’ and even Wingate didn’t know how to do that! How can we possibly figure it out in one day?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out. Come on.” April led him out of Wingate’s office and across the void room into Henry’s. “I don’t understand many of Wingate’s notes, but he did say Henry’s work on the DSD glyphs might be helpful. Maybe I’ll recognize some of this stuff when I see it?”
“Uh, okay, but just as a warning, remember there is a skelet-”
April grimaced as she opened the door, then looked away from the desk. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Can you find me those plans? I want to look at this.”
“What’s ‘this’? Oh, nevermind. Okay.” Nathan went to shuffle through the cabinets, trying to track down the next-latest revision after he had lost number 72 to the guards. Maybe they had put it back? Absorbed in his search, he didn’t notice April skirting around the desk and approaching the open cabinet that held the DSD shutdown switch.
She read the warning label and associated instructions, glanced over her shoulder to confirm Nathan was still occupied, then firmly placed her hand on the scanner.
“No match. Try again.”
She pressed down further, as instructed. The plate clicked deeper into its mounting and a tiny needle poked into her hand, drawing a drop of blood. “Ow!” she exclaimed, pulling back.
“April! What are you doing with the shutdown switch! You can’t - not yet!”
“Chill. It’s fine. I’m not using it yet. Just wanted to make sure it would actually work.”
“Analyzing...” the scanner announced. “Genetic match confirmed. April Hane, please place your left hand on the scanner to initiate the CEO transfer process.”
“Okay, great, it works! Now, please be careful with that thing. You don’t want to-”
She put her left hand on the panel. A beep. “Please place your right hand on the scanner to complete the CEO transf-” She put her right hand on the panel. “Initializing... Transferring... Complete. Welcome April Hane, new CEO of Hane Mining Corporation.” The glass lid of the button opened with a brief hiss, then the electronics shut down. April looked back at Nathan and raised an eyebrow.
“See? It’s fine. All I have to do is close the lid again.”
“So do that please!”
She rolled her eyes. “Nervous much? What, do you think a passing fly is going to press the button and we won’t notice? It’s fine.” Still, she closed the lid and re-locked the shutdown switch. “See? All good.”
He let out a breath. “Okay, yes, fine, but... ugh. Here’s revision 71 of the DSD plans. That’s the second-most recent; revision 72 was taken by guards the last time I was here.”
April took the binder and flipped through the pages. “These glyphs... they must be the control sequence Wingate was talking about. I think I recognize a few of them - there are books in the archives on certain patterns and techniques that can direct ‘Old Magic.’ Before I learned about my powers, I thought they were just fantasy, but afterwards... they helped me control my abilities. I guess they work on the machine, too.” She skimmed the next few pages, including the master schematic that Nathan hadn’t been able to make sense of. “This... it’s very complicated, but I think I recognize some of the pieces. I might be able to figure it out. Maybe some way to collapse the dimension like Wingate said.”
“Won’t that kill us too? And everyone else in the building?”
“Y...es. Yeah.” A pause. “But I don’t know what else to do. If the Thing is as dangerous as he says it is, letting it out would be a huge mistake! And we’ve only got one day to figure all this out. Maybe there’s some way to localize the field; to release the rest of the building and only collapse one section?”
“Do you think you can figure it out in a single day?”
“... Maybe? What kind of question is that? I don’t know!”
“I’m just saying, it’s probably a good idea to have a backup plan. If we don’t have any way to deal with the Thing before the deadline.”
“Then we can’t shut down the DSD. I’m sorry, Nathan, but one person isn’t the same as what this Thing would do to the world if it got out. If we don’t make the deadline, then we don’t make the deadline. That’s that.”
“So... then we go fight Bolte? Do you think you could deal with the bell-head with your new fire magic?”
“Probably? But if he’s got her imprisoned or something, he’ll be able to - look, just don’t get your hopes up too high. If we can’t shut down the DSD on time, I’ll do what I can to help you. But... it might not work out the way you want.”
His voice was low. “I understand.”
“So. You should go get some sleep. It’s late, and I’ll need your help in the morning. Assuming I figure out how to modify the machine... I’m going to work on these plans. All night if I have to. I’ll figure something out... I hope.”
- Allie regrows Ami’s arm before they attempt to escape. [This will take 4-12 hours and tire Allie out a lot. But, Ami will have her arm back and be much more capable.]
- They attempt to escape without regrowing Ami’s arm. [This will take no time and Allie will have more energy. But, Ami will still be missing her arm and won’t be able to help much.]
- Nathan tells Carlos what’s going on and enlists his help.
- Nathan stays quiet.
- Nathan finds Marco and the bus; maybe they can start evacuating people.
( W: , )
- Allie regrows Ami’s arm before they attempt to escape. [This will take 4-12 hours and tire Allie out a lot. But, Ami will have her arm back and be much more capable.]
- They attempt to escape without regrowing Ami’s arm. [This will take no time and Allie will have more energy. But, Ami will still be missing her arm and won’t be able to help much.]
- Nathan tells Carlos what’s going on and enlists his help.
- Nathan stays quiet.
- Nathan finds Marco and the bus; maybe they can start evacuating people.
( W: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 57
In the elevator and on the way back down to the fifth floor, Nathan had a thought. Their current plan was doing something dangerous with the DSD that would destroy everything in the building. This was obviously a terrible idea since it would kill everyone. But what if they could get everyone out first? The machine prevented most means of egress, but not the bus: Marco could get out. And maybe, if April were the new CEO in ways that stretched beyond just the shutdown switch, the guards would listen to her and allow them to leave.
He almost selected the basement to head down and talk to Marco right away, but stayed his hand. He was exhausted and Marco was probably asleep right now anyway. They had all of tomorrow. It wouldn’t take that long to evacuate everyone, assuming the bus idea worked. He should wait.
But. First thing in the morning, he was heading down there.
...
“Hah! I’m awake! I’m awake!” Allie sat up, seeing stars as her head throbbed with dizziness. “Wha-?”
“Lie down; christ.” Ami gently pushed her over and the lightheadedness slowly began to subside. “You passed out.”
“Oh.” She remembered now. Lacre pulsed just below the skin in her palms, still faintly glowing with silvery light. With effort, she forced it back into her circulatory system where it belonged. Her head spun and Allie shuddered. She hated that sensation. “I think I was just about done anyway. How-” she had to pause for breath. “-are you feeling?”
“Physically? Great!” Ami moved both her arms and flexed all her fingers as a demonstration. “Feels exactly the same as before; like nothing ever happened! Your sister did say you’d be able to grow me a new arm, but I didn’t expect it to be this good!”
Allie grinned weakly. “That’s one of my favorite things I can do with these powers. I try to cure at least one person a week if I can - I can fix limbs, cancer, organ failure, you name it. Unfortunately it really wears me out.” Another pause for breath. “As you can see. So I can’t help everyone.”
“That’s really noble, jeez.”
“Well, most of who I heal are other agents who get hurt on missions. It’s not like I just go out to the hospital and pick some doting mother of three to miraculously recover from cancer.” She tried to get up again and made some progress. “And sometimes they ask me to heal high level government people or politicians. I don’t exactly feel noble saving Senator So-and-So’s life after he just voted down a healthcare bill, for instance. But, uh, enough about that.”
“Right. We need to get out of here before they come back.”
It had taken Allie almost nine hours of mostly-continuous focus to regrow Ami’s arm. She had decided to assume she had gotten enough sleep after being knocked out for most of the day and powered through the night on nothing but lacre and determination. Ami had slept, though fitfully, and had only recently woken up just in time for Allie to collapse as she finished the procedure.
The bell-head had come by close to midnight and threw down a plastic bag full of snack food, looking much like it had just come from a vending machine. That combined with the fully-functional plumbing in several of the rooms cut into the sides of the pit meant they weren’t going to go hungry or thirsty; clearly Bolte had some plan in mind that meant they needed to be in acceptable condition.
Speaking of the rooms, most of them appeared to be prison cells. Sink, toilet, bed, bars for the door. During some limited exploration, Allie had been the one to discover the one cell out of the whole lot that wasn’t empty. Half-buried in a cascade of rubble from above were the grossly mummified head and upper torso of some distorted humanoid creature. It was clearly dead, and it reminded her of those strange janitor blobs from the Factory in a way, though without the green tinge or perpetually moist skin. To Ami, her best comparison was that of an enormous dehydrated fetus.
Neither of them were quite sure what to make of it, though Allie could tell it held traces of lacre within.
Aside from the cells at the current level, there were three more levels of doorways ringing the pit as the walls rose fifty feet towards the true floor level. There were enough handholds in broken-down catwalks that (with her arm returned) Ami felt confident climbing up at least part of the way. Allie, unfortunately, didn’t have the upper body strength and could hardly make it more than a few feet. Alternatively, they could dig down into the glassy rubble and see if more doorways or other answers waited below.
Allie will...
️ - Dig into the rubble for more clues or escape routes.
- Investigate the dead thing and the cells further.
- Get some rest and try to recover from the healing.
[At least one option is potentially deadly. Climbing to the second or third level, or out of the pit, will include looking around lower levels, though to a lesser degree.]
Ami will...
- Climb to the next level of doorways and look around.
- Climb to the second level of doorways and look around.
- Climb to the third level of doorways and look around.
- Climb out of the pit and run for it.
- Climb out of the pit and try to get Allie out too.
- Dig into the rubble for more clues or escape routes.
(Winners: , )
️ - Dig into the rubble for more clues or escape routes.
- Investigate the dead thing and the cells further.
- Get some rest and try to recover from the healing.
[At least one option is potentially deadly. Climbing to the second or third level, or out of the pit, will include looking around lower levels, though to a lesser degree.]
Ami will...
- Climb to the next level of doorways and look around.
- Climb to the second level of doorways and look around.
- Climb to the third level of doorways and look around.
- Climb out of the pit and run for it.
- Climb out of the pit and try to get Allie out too.
- Dig into the rubble for more clues or escape routes.
(Winners: , )
3
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@Story Notifications
Scene 58
“You stay there,” Ami instructed. “You can’t even sit up right now; you’re not going to be any help in trying to get out of here.”
Allie reluctantly had to agree. “What are you going to do? Can you climb out of the pit?”
“Maybe, but they’ll be waiting for us up there. No, I think let’s do something they won’t expect. Let’s go further down. If there are doorways on this level, there might be more down below. Maybe some of them lead somewhere else. Worth a shot, right?”
“Mmmm...” Allie frowned, glancing down. She still felt that presence. “Okay. Just don’t go too far. There’s something down there. Something big and weird; I don’t like it.”
“Any more specific description beyond ‘big and weird?’”
“... I don’t know. I can’t see it; I just feel that it’s there. I don’t think it’s awake, or at least if it is, it hasn’t noticed us yet. But no, I can’t really tell you what it is because I don’t know. It’s really unclear, and all these rocks get in the way.”
“Okay, well there’s something for you to work on while I dig. See what you can find out about... whatever this thing is. Sound good?”
“Gotcha.”
A few hours passed. Ami managed to fashion a makeshift shovel out of some scrap metal from a broken catwalk and dug directly beneath one of the existing doorways, as they all seemed to line up. Allie accidentally fell asleep, but started awake after two hours feeling a little more energetic. At least enough to stand up and walk around, trying to pinpoint the source of the feeling.
The hole grew deeper as time passed until, finally, they uncovered something. Ami shouted as she broke into an empty pocket in the rocks and an avalanche of glass stones collapsed into the next doorway down. It took the two of them almost half an hour to clear it out again, this time being careful to avoid another collapse, but by the end of it, they had a narrow, unstable tunnel into the next level.
It was too dark to see past the entrance with all the stones blocking the light, but Allie was able to turn her hair into a glowing silvery lantern with some effort and a spark of lacre: they continued on. Thankfully, she only had to keep that up until Ami found an actual lantern on a table; she gratefully extinguished the glow as the much brighter light clicked on.
“Woah. This isn’t a prison cell.”
“No, it is. Just a different kind.” Allie cautiously stepped forward, placing her hand on the glass tank rising from the floor. She brushed across the control panel, nodding. “This is a Genesis Vessel. I’d know it anywhere. These things turn people into bell-heads; I never thought I’d see one outside of the Factory. Why is it here?”
“I don’t know, but maybe we can find out. Let’s look around.”
The two of them made their way deeper into the collapsed lab. More Genesis Vessels rose from the darkness, most empty but some holding shriveled creatures like the one trapped under rubble in the prison cell above. These were much smaller, almost the size of infants. Most looked primarily human, but with some defect that ruined the illusion. Claws, a tail, an extra limb. Some were the wrong color, others had scales. Some had been removed from the tanks and strapped to tables. The sheer scale of the operation was highly concerning.
Finally, they came across a cold, ashen furnace built into the wall of a side room. Allie glanced at the carts, then at the Vessels and mutant creatures outside. She put two and two together. “What the hell were they doing here? I don’t see any bell-heads; were they mutating babies and burning them? The fuck?”
Ami grimaced. “Maybe they were growing them from scratch. Is that better? I’m not sure that’s better.”
“And who’s ‘they,’ anyway? It can’t be Bolte because he just got here and he’s been dead for a while, right? This stuff is old. So... maybe this is a Hane Corp lab? Yeesh, I thought the Factory was bad.”
Ami stayed quiet, poking through a nearby shelf and trying to avoid the ash.
“I just don’t get why you’d spend lacre like this. All of these creatures have some in them, and you can’t get it back out by burning them. At least, not easily. This stuff isn’t common; why would you go to all this trouble for... I don’t even know?”
“Allie, look.” Ami held out a stack of papers she had retrieved from the shelf.
“Clone ID, formula, incubation time, date initiated, date terminated, reason?” She leafed through the pages. “Defective, defective, defective, dangerous see incident report 29, defective, defective... they’re clones? Of what? Of who?”
Ami shrugged. “Are there any that weren’t terminated? Here, give me back half of them.”
A few minutes passed as they flipped through pages and carefully scanned for any clones that might have survived. “Found one. Look, initiated in 2004 and never terminated. It says ‘see cumulative report J-1.’”
“Did you see any cumulative reports around here? As far as I can tell, that’s the only clone that wasn’t terminated. A lot of them say ‘end of program’ for their reason, though; those were all in 2007.” Allie frowned. “Why do those years sound familiar? 2007, 2004...?”
“I don’t see any more papers in here. You want to double check the rest of this place to make sure?”
“Yeah, let’s see if we can find it. I have a feeling it might be related to whatever’s down in that pit.”
...
- Nathan takes Carlos to visit Marco.
- Nathan takes April to visit Marco.
- Nathan takes both Carlos and April.
- Nathan goes alone.
(Winner: )
- Nathan takes Carlos to visit Marco.
- Nathan takes April to visit Marco.
- Nathan takes both Carlos and April.
- Nathan goes alone.
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 59
“I still don’t get why we had to bring him,” April grumbled, yawning, before taking another gulp from her thermos. “I told you I don’t like people.”
Nathan glanced back at Carlos, who waved cheerily but stayed wisely silent. “He can understand Marco and neither of us can. That’s important. Plus, everything’s about to be over anyway. You’re the new CEO. You can’t exactly hide from everyone forever.”
A long sigh. “Fiiiiine. But as soon as we find the driver and get the bus going, I’ve got to head back upstairs. I’m close, I think. It almost makes sense.”
“Absolutely. And I want to hear about it. Y’know, I bet Carlos could help us if you-”
“No. I don’t trust him. I don’t trust any of these people.”
“But you trust me?”
Another sigh. “Not really, but it’s not like I have a choice. Damn building has a mind of its own. If it thinks you’re important, you’re important.”
He frowned. “Just when I thought we were starting to get along.”
“Can it. Let’s hurry it up here.” She stifled another yawn.
The elevator dinged and released them all into the garage. The bus was where it always was, parked up against the curb and silently awaiting its next trip. A good start. Nathan turned right and headed for Marco’s... home? Apartment? Storage cupboard? He wasn’t entirely sure what to call it. “Alright, Carlos, you ready to get everyone out of here?”
“Am I ever.” He knocked on the door and stepped back to wait. “I’m a little hurt you lied to me about-” he lowered his voice. “-Ms Hane over there-”
“I can still hear you.”
He ignored her. “But I can understand why. Plus, with a payoff like this? Absolutely worth it. I’m just glad you did tell me everything so I can help out.”
Yeah... “Everything.” Nathan hadn’t shared all the details with Carlos. Though he knew about April’s presence and the gist of the evacuation plan, he hadn’t told him about Ami or Bolte. He had taken enough of a risk telling April; he didn’t want to get Ami in even more trouble than she already was.
Carlos frowned and knocked again. “I hope he’s not still sleeping in there. Might have been out late doing a nighttime run.”
The group stood around awkwardly for another ten seconds. April groaned. “We don’t have time for this. Just open the door; go wake him up.”
Carlos knocked again. “Uh, Marco, this is kind of urgent. We’re coming in, okay?” After another few seconds to listen for movement, he turned the handle and pushed the door open. Nathan and April followed him in as the lights clicked on.
It was readily apparent in only a few seconds of searching that Marco was not home. Carlos took point, poking through the counters and mess of appliances for any potential clues. Nathan assisted, but ultimately there was nothing out of the ordinary: it just looked like Marco had left his room and simply never come back.
“I don’t get it; where could he be? He never goes anywhere except here and out on the bus! Did something happen? I should go check upstairs; maybe he went up to the office for some reason. Talking to HR? I’m going to go check.” He quickly walked back to the elevator.
April waited until he was gone, then raised an eyebrow at Nathan. “Well?”
“I don’t know... if the bus is still here, he can’t have gone far. Actually.” He paused, trying to remember exactly what Ami had said. “How did Bolte get here? As far as I know, the only way in or out is on the bus. So...?”
“So you think he came here with your girlfriend, on the bus, presumably driven by Marco, and then... what, killed him after they arrived? To stop anyone else from using it?”
“Maybe?! I don’t know; maybe Marco’s just upstairs like Carlos said?”
She frowned. “C’mon. Let’s check out the bus.”
April led the way and strode into the vehicle without a pause. She frowned again, more severely. “That’s not good. Look.”
Nathan followed her up the steps. “Oh boy.”
The first row on the left side of the bus was stained with blood, as if someone had been bleeding out there. Mixed in with the blood were a few traces of a shimmery silver substance that he didn’t immediately recognize, but that wasn’t the greatest concern. The driver’s seat bore several deep slashes and a splatter of blood; the seatbelt had been torn apart. Nathan stepped a little closer, queasy. A scrap of fabric had caught on the rough fibers of the broken seatbelt: the same dull blue color as the vest Marco wore.
“Yeah, you said it. I think we may have to get a new driver.”
“Forget that; what are we going to tell Carlos? That his brother was...?”
“No, forget that. We do not have time for this. It’s all very sad that it looks like he was killed, but the bigger problem is not having anyone who knows how to drive this thing!”
Nathan set aside his irritation at April seemingly not caring about Marco’s presumed death. She was right; they didn’t have time. “It’s just a bus, right? Can’t be that hard.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, this parking garage is infinite. I don’t know if it’s actually as simple as just driving in a direction and the bus handles the rest, or if you need to do some special ritual or go in a circle three times counterclockwise or whatever! And if it turns out you do need to do something special and we lose the bus to the monsters out there, this whole plan is a bust! So yeah, maybe it’s okay and we just need to drive it normally. But maybe it’s not and we lost the only guy who knows how to get out of here!”
[It is currently morning. The deadline is tomorrow morning.]
- Nathan drives the bus.
- April drives the bus.
- Carlos drives the bus.
❔ - Someone else drives the bus. [Specify, or it’ll just be some random person.]
[You can specify if any of our main characters should go on the trip in #story_discussion, if the relevant options are picked here.]
- Take a full load of people.
- Take a small combat-ready group.
- Take only the driver.
- Don’t take the bus out.
(Winners: , )
- Nathan drives the bus.
- April drives the bus.
- Carlos drives the bus.
❔ - Someone else drives the bus. [Specify, or it’ll just be some random person.]
[You can specify if any of our main characters should go on the trip in #story_discussion, if the relevant options are picked here.]
- Take a full load of people.
- Take a small combat-ready group.
- Take only the driver.
- Don’t take the bus out.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 60
“... Carlos can drive it.”
“Oh can he?”
“Marco was his brother. I know they talked about the garage and how the bus works; they had tea at least twice a week. If anyone knows how to get this thing out of here, it’s him.”
April shrugged. “Makes sense to me. But we still shouldn’t send a full load the first time, just in case.”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? We have a lot to do! We need to go find Carlos, tell him what he needs to do, instruct the guards to not interfere, and then get back to the glyph research so we have a chance of actually disabling the damn thing! Let’s MOVE!”
...
“This is all I found.”
Allie gently picked up the dossier, turning the pages carefully to avoid any further disintegrations. The file had been found just outside the furnace, under a coating of ash and partially burned. A red stamp on the cover reading “[TERMINATED - INCINERATE]” indicated that finding it burned was no accident, but finding it partially burned likely was. “Most of these pages are too burned to make much out. Can you get anything out of this?”
After several minutes of guesswork and squinting, the two of them were able to get at least a general sense of the report’s contents, though many of the specifics had been lost.
The project had been codenamed “Quicksilver” and had been directed by Wingate Pabodie. The actual rationale behind it had been lost to the flames, but the main purpose was to create a clone of... someone. Wingate and his team had used their understanding of lacre - as a substance with the ability to animate matter and (sort of) grant life - to adapt and accelerate normal cloning procedures. The hundreds of failures attested to the inherent difficulty in harnessing such a powerful, dangerous, and poorly-understood substance.
This report seemed to focus on a subject with the designation “J-1,” a clone who was initiated in 2004 and seemed to show initial promise. However, it quickly became apparent that J-1 didn’t actually share the full personality or memories of the original, and was unpredictably dangerous. After an incident in which J-1 killed three research staff seemingly by accident, the decision was reached to terminate it. However, the clone was immune to weapons, incineration, starvation, asphyxiation, and any other strategy the team could devise to destroy it.
Eventually, in 2007, chief scientist Wingate was killed in some way not mentioned in the report and the remaining team members voted to terminate the project. J-1, unfortunately, remained indestructible. It was buried in what was described as “the deepest pit in these hellish mines” and sealed away by many tons of volcanic glass, which apparently served to confuse and reflect some of the beast’s energies.
For it was a beast at that point. J-1 had never stopped growing, and by the time of its imprisonment in 2007, it was well over 6 feet tall, still with the body structure of an infant. Its destructive powers had grown as well, though the report was a little vague on what exactly those were. Just enough that the report’s writer had concluded with a dire warning that was cut off by fire damage after “J-1 must NEVER be allowed to escape. If it does-”
“You think this is that pit they mentioned?” Ami asked. “And that big, weird thing you sensed...?”
“Oh yeah. It all lines up. And the stuff about volcanic glass explains why I can’t sense it properly, and I guess why it can’t sense us.” She half-turned, thinking. “Actually, that’s new information to us at the AIB. I wonder if we could use - uh, sorry, not important right now.”
“Damn right it isn’t. This is all very interesting, but it doesn’t help us get out of here.”
“But it does help explain what Bolte may be doing. Think about it; you said he told Nathan to disable the ‘dimensional sequestering device,’ which I assume is the field that’s keeping this building out of phase with normal reality, and then bring one of Henry Hane’s descendants to the lowest level of the mines - i.e. here. So he wants them to rejoin normal reality, then bring someone who is obviously quite important to the building directly to where J-1 is buried. His end goal is...?”
“I - I don’t know. To release J-1? Why would he want to do that?”
“If there’s one thing I know about Wilhelm Bolte, it’s that he’s extremely confident in his ability to control lacre. He studied the stuff for decades; probably more than anyone else on the planet. I bet he thinks he can control J-1, whose powers stem from lacre, and use it to... honestly, I’m not sure. But there are a lot of possibilities, all of which are bad.”
“Do you think he can?”
Allie thought about this. “I’m not sure. I don’t know how powerful this creature is, and I don’t know what Bolte’s been up to over the past six years. I will say that he’s very smart and very dangerous, though. It’s worth assuming that his plan will work unless we stop it.”
“Do you think you can control J-1?”
“Uh...”
“Well, we still don’t know why Bolte brought us here, right? Me, sure, to use as leverage on Nathan. But you? If he hates you and you’ve stopped him before, leaving you alive wouldn’t be very smart. He must need you for something. Maybe it’s to help him control J-1?”
“I... I wouldn’t even know where to start with that.” Allie leaned back. “I can control the raw liquid, sort of, but it’s a lot lot harder when it has a mind of its own and is fighting back. I don’t think I could, not if it’s as powerful as described.”
“Maybe the two of you together?”
“But I would never help him! He knows that.”
“Maybe he won’t give you a choice.”
“...”
- Ami climbs out of the pit and tries to get Allie out as well.
- Ami climbs out of the pit and runs to try and get help.
- They both stay put and investigate the pit further.
- Allie tries to communicate with / control J-1. [Specify in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
1
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@Story Notifications
Scene 61
“Come on, focus, will you? Where’s the difference here? Is this line straighter than that one? What are you spacing out about?”
“Sorry, sorry.” Nathan looked back to the glyph pair he was supposed to be comparing. “I was worrying about Carlos. Do you think they’ll be okay?”
“Yes? Probably? He seemed pretty confident, right?”
“He seemed pretty... devastated, to me. I mean, he just learned his brother is probably dead and now he has to drive the bus sitting in the very same seat where Marco was murdered? That can’t be easy.”
“Look, those people will be fine. He was talking about all the right stuff: directions, speed limits, all the ritual components you’d expect to need to get out of here. And the guards even agreed to stay off the bus. I don’t think it could possibly be going any better, so can you please pay attention?”
“Right. Sorry.” Nathan frowned and lowered his head, tracing the near-identical designs with both hands. It took him about twenty more seconds to spot the difference. “This one has a triangle instead of a, uh, pointier triangle? Over here.” He pointed. April looked. “Is that good?”
“Yeah, yeah...” She snatched the sheet he had been pointing at, holding it close before comparing it with another three laid out in front of her. “YES! This is it! That’s the last one! ...I think. Pretty sure.” A pause. “Like 60% sure.” She frantically shuffled through the pile again. “No, this is definitely it. Probably.”
“Should I be excited or worried?”
“Yyyyes.” April picked up all four glyphs and set them in a line, then stared intently as she traced through them again, referencing one of several books lying nearby. “Remember that the machine isn’t designed to do this. We’re literally breaking it and then destroying it; I can’t be completely sure it’ll work. But if all these glyphs function as designed, and the machine works how the schematics say, I think it’ll do exactly what Wingate said: dump everything in the field into a pocket dimension, and then collapse it as the machine is destroyed. The... ‘Thing’ will be gone forever.”
“But...? I’m sensing a ‘but.’”
“But, someone’s going to have to pull the trigger. From the inside.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. The DSD, as I said, wasn’t designed to do this. All the controls are on the inside of the field because it was designed for all the operators to be inside. You can’t do anything with it from outside the field, at least not without a major rework that would take weeks or more.”
Nathan sat awkwardly for several moments. “It’s, uh, going to have to be one of us, isn’t it?”
“Technically, no. I’m going to have to make the glyph modifications myself, but actually pressing the button to destroy the machine can be done by anyone once all the setup is done. But given that Bolte and the bell-head will have to be dealt with, and we’re currently in the middle of evacuating everyone else... yeah. Probably.”
He took a deep breath, debating whether to volunteer. “April, I-”
She interrupted. “I’ll do it.”
“Wh-what?”
“Look, I’ve been stuck in this building since I was eight years old. My only family who was alive even then consists of two skeletons: one sitting on the chair behind us and the other wherever Wingate’s bones ended up. I don’t have anyone left on the outside. You need to live through this for your girlfriend, and you’ve got a life to go back to. Plus, I know the most about the machine to deal with any complications. I’m the obvious choice.”
“But... you’re just... okay with that?”
“Not really! I’m not exactly suicidal! I really don’t want to, but someone’s gotta do it. Simple as that.”
[This is not a full branch point. There will be at least one opportunity to change your mind later.]
- “... Okay.” [Marks April for death.]
- “I’ll do it.” [Marks Nathan for death.]
- “We’ll get someone else to do it.” [Marks someone else for death. Specify who, or it will be just some random employee. Has a greater chance of failure the less invested this person is.]
- “We’ll trick Bolte into doing it for us.” [Risky. Dangerous. No one is guaranteed to die, though.]
(Winner: )
- “... Okay.” [Marks April for death.]
- “I’ll do it.” [Marks Nathan for death.]
- “We’ll get someone else to do it.” [Marks someone else for death. Specify who, or it will be just some random employee. Has a greater chance of failure the less invested this person is.]
- “We’ll trick Bolte into doing it for us.” [Risky. Dangerous. No one is guaranteed to die, though.]
(Winner: )
3
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@Story Notifications
Scene 62
“... No. We’ll find another way.”
“Such as?”
“... We’ll trick Bolte into doing it for us.”
April raised both eyebrows. “Really. This I’ve got to hear.”
“So, he wants us to turn off the DSD and bring a descendant of Henry - you, basically - down to the mines, right? Maybe we could bring the controls with us and say he can do it, then, uh, leave? Wait-”
“That’s not following his instructions. He wants it down before we go there. Plus, if we actually do go down to the mines to make the exchange, we’re still trapped in the building along with him!”
“Right, right. What if... uh, we set a timer to destroy the machine, make the modifications, then go down and make the swap and run before... no, no.”
“Setting aside the fact that I wouldn’t know how to set up a timer to do that, it’s still not following his instructions. If we don’t disable the field before meeting him, we can’t make the deal. I’m sure he’ll be able to tell if it’s down, given that he’s asking for it.”
“So... wait, hang on. If we can’t get Ami back without turning off the field, how were you planning on rescuing her with your plan?”
“I had two ideas. One: we confront Bolte before messing with the machine and try to get her back first. Two:” She hesitated and looked away. “We... don’t. Just make the changes and blow the whole thing up without even talking to him.” She saw Nathan open his mouth and continued quickly. “It’s the only way to be sure we can destroy the Thing! If we go try to confront Bolte and fail, he can just turn the thing off himself. And as important as this girl is to you, you cannot put her above the entire planet!”
“Look. We... have to try, at least! You can’t just murder someone; she didn’t ask to be here and doesn’t even know about the plan! It’s not like us, because we know what’s going on, and it’s not like Bolte, who is literally a kidnapper. You have to-”
“Okay, fine! Give me a plan, then! Come up with some way that we can get her back without risking the entire world by letting the Thing get out!”
“...” Nathan stood in furious silence for several moments. He didn’t have a plan.
“... Well then. You’ve got a few hours to come up with one.” She exhaled and grabbed the pile of glyphs off the floor. “I’m going to go work on the machine, alone. Need to edit its control glyphs to start the process. I promise I won’t destroy everything yet.”
“... Fine.”
...
Someone knocked on the door. “Ella? It’s Lantoon. Can I come in?”
Ella quickly hopped back into bed and messed up the sheets a bit, pretending she had been there the whole time. “Go ahead,” she yelled. “Not like I’m doing anything.”
Agent Lantoon opened the door and stomped in. He was wearing his combat uniform, including the armored boots that made it impossible to move in any manner other than stomping. “How are you doing?”
Ella sighed exaggeratedly and gestured around the room at all the medical equipment surrounding her. “How do you think I’m doing? They’re seriously overreacting and everyone knows it. PLEASE tell me you’re here to say I can leave.”
“Well...” he glanced outside and closed the door, lowering his voice. “No. But I’m here to give you some information, and maybe accidentally drop a key on the way out. If you want.”
“I’m intrigued. Go on.”
“A bus just appeared, in exactly the location predicted by the trackers. Parking garage downtown, only a few blocks from where the Hane Corp building used to be. Nine people on board, all claiming to be from an ‘interdimensional office building.’ They’re currently being interviewed on-site.”
Ella breathed out. “So we found it. We’ve got a way in. Did any of them mention Allie?”
“Not sure yet, but forensics say there’s a lacre-blood mixture on one of the seats. I don’t know where the blood would have come from, but-”
“Ami. We didn’t find her either, right? They were both on that bus; must have been.” She hesitated. “Was it, like, a lot of lacre or, like, a survivable amount?”
“I don’t know; this is all very recent. I’m supposed to be on my way right now to head up the team going in.”
“But you’re here instead. You mentioned something about ‘accidentally’ dropping a key on the way out?”
“Yes. Leadership wants you to stay here until this whole mess is cleared up; they’re worried about possible instability in your blood caused by-”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard it all already. I know why I’m in hospital jail. Are you going to let me out or not?”
“...No. But.” Lantoon clomped a few steps closer and knelt so he was almost on the same level as Ella. “I care a great deal for Agent Or- Allie. I know you do as well. And both of us know you aren’t actually in any danger of detonating if you leave this room.”
“Wait, what? I’m not?”
Lantoon stared at her. “It’s been more than a day and there hasn’t been a single resonant pattern detected in you. You’re in perfect health aside from mild head trauma, which your natural healing should have almost fully taken care of by now. The only reason they’re keeping you here is to make sure you don’t do anything stupid trying to save your sister.”
“Oh.”
“However, I don’t think you will. And I don’t believe it’s fair to force you to stay behind when she’s clearly in danger. But of course I can’t disobey an order from up top, so...”
Lantoon fished a keyring out of his pocket and dropped it on the floor, deadpan. “Oops.” He stood up and turned to leave. “Only use that if you truly believe you can help. You will get in trouble for this, and I probably will too. The bus will be leaving in about half an hour to head back in; there’s a car out back to get you there. See you then.” He put a hand on the doorknob. “Or not. Up to you.”
Lantoon left the room. Ella got up and snatched the keyring off the floor. Building keycard, car keys, and a cute little marshmallow keychain. Adorable. He didn’t seem like the type.
[This is a branch point.]
- Go. Ride the bus; save her sister.
- Stay. Lantoon could be wrong; maybe she is still dangerous. Maybe the higher-ups have a good reason for making her stay put. Maybe she’ll make things worse.
[Also, if you have a suggestion for Nathan to help him come up with a good plan to save Ami, post about it in #story_discussion. He might figure something out on his own, but he might not.]
(Winner: )
- Go. Ride the bus; save her sister.
- Stay. Lantoon could be wrong; maybe she is still dangerous. Maybe the higher-ups have a good reason for making her stay put. Maybe she’ll make things worse.
[Also, if you have a suggestion for Nathan to help him come up with a good plan to save Ami, post about it in #story_discussion. He might figure something out on his own, but he might not.]
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 63
She stood there for only a few seconds before peeking out into the hallway and heading left towards the back of the building. No way I’m going to let her do this alone. Whatever “this” is.
...
Allie frowned and closed her eyes, listening. The gentle, almost undetectable hum that permeated the building had changed. Something felt different about the air around her now. Sharper, almost. More tense; strained. Ready to snap at any moment. What’s going on? Is Bolte doing something to the field? She stood up and walked out into the main pit, again almost tripping on the constantly-shifting pile of glass. “Something weird’s going on!” she shouted up to Ami. “Are you doing anything strange up there?”
A few seconds passed before her head popped out over the edge of the pit. “What?”
“I said something weird’s happening! Are you doing anything?”
“No? Just looking around. There’s still nothing more than just a bunch of cells up here!”
The background hum stuttered, stopped altogether for a moment, then restarted at a different pitch. Allie closed one eye and grabbed at her head as a sudden ache blossomed through it. “Something’s very wrong. You should, uh -” She forgot how to breathe for an instant as a massive, overwhelming presence suddenly stirred beneath her. “- oh shit.”
“What? What should I do? I can’t hear you!”
“Get out of here! Throw me a rope or something if you can find one! The thing - J-1 - is awake.” Allie carefully backed towards the wall, instinctively trying to hide her presence from the enormous creature’s probes. It still couldn’t see very well, buried beneath thousands of glassy rocks, but it was looking now. She shivered as the image of a brilliant yellow eye passed through her mind. Searching. Hunting. Seeking the source of the disturbance that had woken it up. Another wince as the hum wavered again, still refusing to stabilize. What was going ON?
“I thought we agreed to figure out what was going on before-”
“No time!” Allie glanced at the ground, wanting to whisper but having to shout. “Go! It’s looking for us!”
She saw Ami look down at the still-motionless ground. Obviously, she couldn’t tell anything had changed. “Okay. But I’m coming back for you.” She grasped onto a handhold Allie couldn’t see and began working her way up the side wall. About twenty feet to go.
A horn blasted through the strained air and the bell-head appeared at the top of the pit, only thirty feet from Ami. It held position in a fighting stance, angling its bell into the depths. Could it “see” Ami? Were the subtle variations in the background hum enough to throw off its hearing? Was it distracted enough that she could get away?
“Ms Ortiez!” someone shouted from the top of the pit. She recognized the speaker as the person who had stolen her identity to trick Ami into Bolte’s trap. The person who had apparently later been possessed by Bolte himself. She could feel the ancient Factory baron’s poisonous, stretching lacre presence. It was him, alright.
“Whatever you want, I’m not doing it!” she yelled, pressing further back against the wall as stones began to shift under her feet. J-1 was rising in the pit, clawing its way towards the surface. The constantly-changing hum was driving it out, irritating it to such a degree that it could push through the glass fill. Ami was still climbing, momentarily sheltered from both Bolte and the bell-head by a convenient overhang.
“This is not a trick. I understand that you hate me, and for good reason. But just this once, you must listen or that creature will destroy all of us and hundreds more innocent people still in the building. You consider yourself the ‘good guy,’ yes? Then for everyone’s sake, help me pacify this thing before it gets out!”
She felt a pulse of power echo out from Bolte, directed at J-1 and amplified by the rocks in a way that would never have occurred to her. He was “aiming” in such a precise manner that the rocks scattered his energy perfectly to focus it directly on the creature. Still, he didn’t have enough power to stop it on his own; his abilities seemed dampened somehow, less forceful than the last time they had met.
Allie could pour her powers into the stream, taking advantage of its targeting and joining forces with Bolte to push the creature back down, if only temporarily. The hum was finally starting to stabilize; maybe once it did, J-1 would calm down and return to slumber. She just had to... work with Bolte for a few minutes. Was it a trick? Was it worth the risk?
Ami hauled herself out of the pit, about twenty feet behind Bolte and the bell-head. Both were otherwise occupied with whatever earthquake-like nonsense was happening down there and didn’t seem to have noticed her yet. There was a set of double doors to her right. No rope around to throw to Allie, nor would she be able to with Eden-Bolte and the bell-head in the way.
[This is a branch point. At least one combination is potentially deadly to multiple characters. Pick one from each block.]
- Allie shoves aside her misgivings and helps Bolte contain J-1. For the greater good.
- Allie refuses to help Bolte. [This doesn’t mean she’ll just do nothing. Suggest a course of action in #story_discussion. I have significant latitude in interpreting the results if this option wins.]
- Ami runs away. Abandoning Allie, maybe, but she might be able to help more from outside the pit. At least that’s what she’ll tell herself.
- Ami kicks the bell-head and/or Bolte into the pit. The fall will likely be fatal. [You can specify who to target first and whether to spare the other in #story_discussion.]
(Winners: , )
- Allie shoves aside her misgivings and helps Bolte contain J-1. For the greater good.
- Allie refuses to help Bolte. [This doesn’t mean she’ll just do nothing. Suggest a course of action in #story_discussion. I have significant latitude in interpreting the results if this option wins.]
- Ami runs away. Abandoning Allie, maybe, but she might be able to help more from outside the pit. At least that’s what she’ll tell herself.
- Ami kicks the bell-head and/or Bolte into the pit. The fall will likely be fatal. [You can specify who to target first and whether to spare the other in #story_discussion.]
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 64
Ami took one look at the doors before resolutely digging her shoes into the debris-strewn ground and darting towards the pit. Her arm throbbed with phantom pain as she remembered the agony of the bell-head tearing it off. She’d never have a better chance than this to get rid of it. Without it, maybe the two of them would be able to stand up to Bolte.
Nothing fancy, just a straightforward side kick with all the force and inertia from her run. The bell-head was shockingly heavy, but she had aimed low and shoved with all her might. The thing lost its balance with a sudden slip and tumbled into the pit, bouncing off the side several times on the way down. Now, I just have to-
“Oh, okay,” Bolte said calmly in Eden’s voice. “We’ll do it your way, then.” He half-turned away from the pit and made a curious motion with his hands. It felt like a vice was squeezing her lower legs, locking them in place. Ami struggled, but only succeeded in knocking herself off-balance and falling to her knees at the edge of the pit.
“I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.” Bolte approached with a carefully neutral expression. He made another hand sign and more muscles locked up, leaving her almost paralyzed. His hand trembled with effort as he held the exertion. “Always another plan, my dear.”
He kicked her unceremoniously into the pit.
...
Allie cursed at Bolte, herself, and the world in general, then released her power into the stream he had created. She felt J-1’s progress begin to slow as the hum continued to stabilize and her power melded with Bolte’s to push against the massive creature. It was working. Just a few minutes and-
The stream stuttered as Bolte’s power cut out. “Wh - are you FUCKING for real?!” Allie half-shouted, half-groaned as she took the full strain of maintaining the connection. She shoved with all her might against an overwhelming force, only barely able to keep herself and the stream intact. Was this his plan? Trick her into a one-sided battle against J-1 and then...? Wait...
As the thing grew closer to the surface, the connection began to deepen. No longer restrained by the layers upon layers of volcanic glass, Allie became aware of J-1’s vague thoughts and emotions, just like any other lacre-animated beast. On the surface, there was exactly what she’d expect. Frustration, rage, irritation, and an utterly alien maelstrom of cognitive energy she couldn’t interpret. Similarly to her original time in the Factory, lacre itself seemed to have a mind, but one so disconnected from her own human thoughts that she simply couldn’t comprehend it. But below that, there was something else.
More rocks sloughed out of the way. The center of the pit began to bulge. J-1’s mind grew clearer.
Beneath that utterly alien whirlpool of thoughts was a human psyche. She was sure of it.
This thing had been created as a clone - a human clone. Sure, it had been born of lacre, but its mind had originally been built off that of a real person. This, she could work with. This, she could understand. She focused deeper, trying to pierce through the veil of lacre-formed thoughts to the thing’s own consciousness beneath.
... Confusion. Fear. The utter, crippling loneliness of years spent in complete isolation. Rage, but contextualized. Not just blind, omnidirectional malice, but a hatred driven by fear. Fear of what? She dug deeper. The thing fought back, but it was slowing. The hum had almost entirely stabilized; without that inciting force, it was beginning to slip back into slumber as Allie forced it down. What was the fear? What was it afraid of?
Allie yelped as something slammed into the ground next to her. She opened her eyes, becoming aware that she had fallen over at some point and her body was burning with a fever of lacre-fueled power. The bell-head lay sprawled only a few feet away, purple blood leaking into the stones as it struggled to rise. “What the...?”
Ami slammed into the ground next, crumpling into a bloody heap a dozen feet beyond the bell-head. She didn’t move.
“A-Ami...” she whispered. Her grip on the connection wavered. Rocks scattered in all directions.
“MS ORTIEZ!” Bolte shouted again, rejoining the connection and taking some of the strain off Allie. “Hold onto the stream! Only a minute longer!”
“You... you KILLED HER!”
“Not by choice. Your friend attacked me. It was self defense. Be as furious as you want later, but right now you MUST keep the connection!”
“No... no...” This was her fault. Her responsibility. She could sense the tiniest spark of life still remaining in her friend’s broken form. Seconds left, if that, then she would be gone.
[This is a continuation of the last scene’s branch point.]
- Let go of J-1 and save Ami. [J-1 will escape, but Ami will live.]
- Continue holding J-1. [J-1 will not escape, but Ami will die.]
(Winner: )
- Let go of J-1 and save Ami. [J-1 will escape, but Ami will live.]
- Continue holding J-1. [J-1 will not escape, but Ami will die.]
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 65
Allie let out a growl that transformed into a raw scream as she ripped herself out of the connection and shouldered past the bell-head to run to Ami. She was using too much power too quickly. The arm regrowth had already almost wiped her out, plus restraining J-1 and everything in between. Still, it couldn’t be helped. Not if she wanted Ami to live. Silver light shone from her palms as she poured healing energy into her friend, hauling her back from the brink of death. She had to keep this up for at least long enough to stabilize her, but a full recovery would be impossible in these conditions: it would take hours even if she had the energy to spare, but Allie would likely burn herself to a crisp in minutes at this rate.
Bolte shouted from above. “Are you INSANE? Look what-”
The pit exploded. The hum had stabilized, but without Allie’s power holding J-1 back, the creature managed to claw through the last few layers of rocks. Shrapnel and glass dust rained down on everyone in the pit. Allie felt several impacts on her back, but couldn’t feel any pain through the haze of lacre. Her entire body glowed bright silver.
Bolte jumped into the pit, landing on his feet with a thunderous impact. Another hand sign and the bands of force holding his legs in place dropped. He moved quickly towards Allie, glancing back at the cloud of dust that still obscured J-1. She could hear him angrily muttering as he got closer, but couldn’t move; the healing required all of her concentration.
“Ahead of schedule...” “Insolent, reckless child...” “Have to salvage this...” “Field is still active, but no matter...” “Can’t turn back or everyone dies...”
He stopped just behind her. Allie had to stay locked in position, but she could at least move her eyes to catch the lower portion of his leg. She heard a clinking sound, like glass. “What are you doing? Stay AWAY from me!”
“If only I could.” The ground shifted again, loose rocks rolling towards the center of the pit. “But you’ve released the creature and I cannot let it get any farther.” More clinking. His hand brushed a section of her hair aside.
“Don’t touch me! Stay AWAY!” Allie still couldn’t move without killing Ami; she still wasn’t stable. Just a few more seconds, maybe.
“Don’t worry, this won’t be fatal. As much as I wish it would be.”
She still couldn’t feel pain, so the needle only felt like an icicle sliding into her neck. Frigid, ice-cold liquid spread from the injection site. “BOLTE! What was that?! What are you doing?!” Could she release now? Turn around and just cave in his skull? She was beyond furious enough to do it, even knowing the skull didn’t actually belong to Bolte himself.
“Saving us all. You’ll understand when you wake up.”
Her head started to spin. Sensations began to retreat. I’m passing out. I have to pull back now, or who knows what’s going to happen to her?! She dropped the connection, ending the healing, then collapsed backwards onto the still-shifting ground. Bolte loomed over her, looking old and tired even in his “borrowed” younger body. He made a series of gestures and Allie knew no more for a long while.
...
Nathan barged into the room and almost fell as another quake shook the building. “April?! I thought you said you weren’t going to destroy everything yet!”
She paused midway through reattaching a metal plate over a powerfully-glowing glyph inscribed beneath. Nathan had about a half-second to duck before the plate went sailing over his head and crashed into the wall. “I DIDN’T DO THIS!”
“Ack, don’t take it out on me! Please don’t throw things!”
“AGH!” April punched the floor in frustration, sending a sheet of flames up around her fist. “What the hell is going on? What’s with all these quakes? Were you doing something?”
“I don’t know! I thought maybe you were messing with the machine and - sorry!” He flinched as she picked up another metal plate. “Calm down, please. We’re on the same side here.”
She slammed it onto the ground. “I just finished switching out the control glyphs a few minutes ago. I had to reset the field parameters, but it wouldn’t have done anything to cause earthquakes. Just made some weird harmonics for a few minutes; you wouldn’t have even noticed. This has got to be something else.”
“Well, it happened at about the same time, so maybe it’s related? Maybe something else changed when the field did?”
“I don’t know!” Another quake shook the room and she had to grab onto the machine to keep upright. “But we need to figure it out, right now, before this whole place collapses. Come on; we’re going to the mines.”
“But-” Nathan followed despite his misgivings as April led him out of the DSD configuration room and back into the security hallway. Henry’s office would be just ahead on the right. “Do you think Bolte is doing this?”
“Maybe! If he wanted us to turn off the field and I’ve started messing with it, he might be doing something weird! But it could... also... be - hold on.”
“What?”
“The Thing in the mines. Wingate’s notes said - that’s not important. But maybe if you interpret it in another way...”
“You think the Thing is doing this?”
“Maybe! It knows about the DSD for sure; that’s what’s holding it here! Maybe it can sense when we’re messing with its prison? Hurry up!”
The elevator began rising to their floor. April paced as Nathan thought aloud. “If it is the Thing, what are we going to do? We can’t destroy the field now; everyone’s still here! Carlos hasn’t gotten back from the evacuation trial yet! Can we restrain it again? Do something to distract it? What can we do?!”
“I. Do not. KNOW! We’re going to take a look and figure it out. Questions on hold until then, got it?”
“Alright! Alright; I’m just thinking.”
The elevator arrived with a ding and opened its doors to reveal Carlos and two people dressed in combat uniforms: one large man and one small woman. Everyone hesitated for a moment, surprised.
“Nathan, Ms Hane-” Carlos began.
“Don’t call me that.”
“April, sorry, this is Agent Cameron Lantoon and Agent Ella Ortiez. They’re with the government and they’re here to help us.”
[Ella will...]
- Help with the evacuations.
- Come with Nathan and April to the mines.
[Lantoon will...]
- Help with the evacuations.
️ - Come with Nathan and April to the mines.
[The rest of the AIB agents will...]
- Help with the evacuations.
️ - Help with the mines.
- Divide between both missions.
[I estimate we probably have 10-20 scenes left in the story, but I could be very wrong if events in the mines go sideways.]
(Winners: , , )
- Help with the evacuations.
- Come with Nathan and April to the mines.
[Lantoon will...]
- Help with the evacuations.
️ - Come with Nathan and April to the mines.
[The rest of the AIB agents will...]
- Help with the evacuations.
️ - Help with the mines.
- Divide between both missions.
[I estimate we probably have 10-20 scenes left in the story, but I could be very wrong if events in the mines go sideways.]
(Winners: , , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 66
“Government agents? Wait, Ortiez? Like A-”
“Allie’s my sister,” Ella cut him off. “She told me about you, Nathan. As far as we know, both her and your girlfriend Ami are in this buildi-”
“We know that already! Listen, we’ve got to compare information fast and then get downstairs. Do you two know anything about someone named Wilhelm Bolte?”
Ella scowled. “Oh yeah. We’ve met.”
...
Minutes later, the quakes were calming down enough that the building didn’t seem in danger of imminent collapse. Nathan, April, Ella, and Lantoon exchanged the information they had while Carlos and the other agents worked on organizing further evacuations. Everyone in the building was gathering in the cafeteria on the second floor as a staging zone, then descending to the parking garage for the bus.
They would have been gathering directly in the garage, but the quakes had damaged the lights that kept the curb safe and the mysterious monsters from the garage’s outer limits were encroaching on the bus and elevators. A team of AIB agents were working on setting up portable lighting and strange, bullet-shaped devices they referred to as “ARS canisters.” “They’re like bigger PRS devices,” Lantoon had explained when asked, not actually providing any further clarity at all. Nathan didn’t push it; they were in a hurry.
“So let me summarize this, okay? Just to make sure.” Ella counted up the points on her fingers. “Bolte kidnapped Allie and Ami on the bus and brought them here to the mines. There’s a ‘Thing’ in the mines that’s really dangerous and Bolte is probably doing ‘something’ with it. Your plan to deal with this is to collapse the field that’s keeping us here, shunting everything into a pocket dimension that will then be destroyed. But in order to do that, we need to get everyone out that we can, then have one person stay behind to operate the machine. And there are about a million other things that we don’t have time to get into right now. Sound about right?”
Nathan nodded. “That’s the gist of it. More details later, though.” April stayed quiet.
“Okay. Since you two already have a plan and know way more about this place than we do, we’ll roll with it. Lantoon, you want to stay here and make sure everyone can get out while I head to the mines with these two and mount a rescue mission?”
The large man frowned. “I should come with you. You’ll need backup.”
“I’ve got these two! Plus, I’ll take half the squad. You’re good at leading and organizing; you can help make sure the evacuations go smoothly. I know Bolte. I can handle him.”
Another, deeper frown. “That’s what I’m afraid of. You know him, but he knows you.”
“Look-”
“But she’s your sister. I get it. Alright.” He stood up and nodded to a nearby agent who had been listening. “Split the team; gather the veterans to go with Agent Ortiez here.”
“Thanks, Lantoon. For, well, a lot, actually. We’ll make it back.”
“Good luck. To all of you.” He nodded to Ella, then turned and strode over to a pair of agents struggling with a group of panicked employees, starting to take command of the situation.
Nathan saw Ella murmur something under her breath as Lantoon turned away, then she spoke up. “Okay, team, ready to go?”
“More or less?” Nathan said nervously. April assented as well, just sounding annoyed.
A group of eight combat-ready agents approached and joined up with their group; Ella went over the general details as they waited for a free elevator. They were all in use ferrying employees down to the evacuation point, so she had plenty of time to explain before one finally showed up. Then, they didn’t all fit in the same elevator and half the agents had to wait for the next one.
On the way down, Ella fiddled with the straps on her backpack. “Do we know anything else about the ‘Thing’ besides that it’s really dangerous and presumably related to lacre in some way? It would help us a lot to know what might work on it.”
“Well...” Nathan tried to recall what Wingate’s notes had said. “It’s immune to normal weapons. But I don’t think the journal actually said much about what the Thing is or what its powers are.” He paused, remembering. “Maybe in the pages beyond the first one? April, was there anything useful in that section?”
She glowered at him as Ella and the agents looked at her. “No. There wasn’t anything else. I don’t know what the Thing is either.”
Ella frowned. “If there’s any more information, at all, it could mean the difference between life and death. Even if you don’t think it’s relevant, it could make sense to us since we’ve dealt with lacre-based threats before. Please, it’s important. Can you share?”
“No. There’s nothing in there you need.”
Ella glanced at Nathan, who shrugged helplessly.
[Ella will...]
- Give up. Don’t push it; they need April’s cooperation.
- Push harder, but ultimately don’t force it.
✊ - Force it. They need this information. Try not to hurt anyone, though.
[Nathan will...]
- “...” [Stay quiet]
- “Why are you being so angry about this?” [Take Ella’s side]
- “If she says there’s nothing, there’s nothing.” [Take April’s side]
(Winners: , )
- Give up. Don’t push it; they need April’s cooperation.
- Push harder, but ultimately don’t force it.
✊ - Force it. They need this information. Try not to hurt anyone, though.
[Nathan will...]
- “...” [Stay quiet]
- “Why are you being so angry about this?” [Take Ella’s side]
- “If she says there’s nothing, there’s nothing.” [Take April’s side]
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 67
“I... don’t know if that’s a smart call to make on your own. Like I said, we’ve dealt with stuff like this before and any information on a potential enemy is good information. I really think you need to share this.”
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you get? There’s nothing relevant in those notes.”
“But how can you-”
Nathan spoke up. “If she says there’s nothing, then there’s nothing. I trust her.”
April glanced briefly at him, but said nothing. Ella furrowed her brow either in thought or frustration, then relented. “Alright, fine. Have it your way. We’ll go in blind.” A brief delay, then “But if we all die in there because you’re hiding something, I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ as a ghost.”
No response. April continued to ignore her, while Nathan couldn’t come up with anything to say. The elevator arrived and the doors slid open.
The group stepped out into a small antechamber, built of cracked concrete and bare of any major furnishings. There was only a set of double doors, an assortment of mangled locks and barricades, and the elevator bank. Clearly this room only served to contain the elevators. Equally clearly, someone had recently broken through the barricaded doors and into whatever lay beyond.
The second group of agents arrived in another elevator. Everything was still and quiet. “So, uh, anyone want to go first and check out those doors?” Nathan whispered. “Or I could if-”
April pushed past and carefully eased one door open just a crack, peeking into the next room. She whispered something that sounded almost like “It’s him,” but Nathan couldn’t be sure. Then she stepped back. “It’s the Thing. It’s awake. I don’t see anyone else; you all should take a look.”
Ella was next, murmuring “Oh, that’s not good” and digging through her backpack. Each individual AIB agent looked as well, with Nathan at the back of the queue and almost laughing out loud at the absurdity of the situation. It reminded him of an elementary school-style lunch line, with everyone slowly shuffling forward awaiting their turn. Finally he was next.
He could only describe the Thing as an enormous floating infant, though mutated and warped in grotesque ways. It was at least two dozen feet tall, though its proportions didn’t match; it seemed more stretched than grown. Its skin glowed with a bright silvery light and appeared ashen white or grey beneath the illumination. Glassy dust covered much of its body, causing the light to sparkle. Currently, it hovered above the mouth of a vast open pit, eyes closed and limbs crossed as if meditating. It didn’t seem to be doing anything at all, much less anything dangerous. True to April’s word, he didn’t see anyone else. If Ami or Bolte were here, they were either hiding or in the pit. He closed the door and returned to the antechamber.
“Okay, the Thing is a giant floating baby. That’s good to know. What, uh, do we do about that?”
“Well, you said the plan was to collapse the field and destroy it, right? If it’s just sitting there not doing anything, we can just go do that as soon as we find Allie and Ami. I don’t see them in there - or Bolte for that matter - so maybe they’re in the pit? Here’s an idea: we sneak in, avoid pissing off the silver space baby, find and rescue our friends, then evacuate and collapse the field. Good?”
“Better than trying to attack it, at least. Do you think we can sneak by it?”
“I’ve got some tricks for that.” Ella patted her backpack. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”
One of the agents bent down to whisper something to her. Ella considered the suggestion. “Possible? I think it’s a little more risky though.”
“What’d he say?”
Ella gestured to the man, who spoke. “We could set up a few ARS cans-”
April interrupted. “Arse cans? Really?”
“It’s an acronym,” the agent explained. “ARS: area reality stabilizer canisters. But we could set up a few of those either at the entrance or around the pit - they might be able to neutralize the thing entirely or for long enough that we could get in and get out. We’d have some defense if it suddenly wakes up when sneaking past.”
“But,” Ella patted her pack. “We do have the personal versions, and setting up a big field will probably get its attention.”
“Just a suggestion, ma’am. But if your PRS couldn’t stand up to Bolte on its own, it’s probably not able to handle this thing.”
“Well... I did take it off when - that’s not important. You’re probably right that it won’t be powerful enough, but the ARS cans have their own problems. I wouldn’t be able to go in, remember? At least, not for long. Plus, if Allie’s hurt, dragging her through that field would...”
“We can turn it off temporarily.”
“In the middle of what would probably be a chaotic fight?”
The other agent backed down. “Alright. It was just an option.”
“No, it’s good you spoke up. I’m sure we can still use an ARS somehow; we brought them for a reason...”
April nudged Nathan’s shoulder as Ella and the agents discussed tactics. She leaned down and whispered, “This is pointless. They’ll never be able to get past it and get anyone out. I’m going to go sit upstairs by the DSD controls and get ready to destroy it as soon as J - the Thing gets out of the basement. You should leave.”
“What? April, you can’t! There are still a bunch of people in the building! Plus, we still need to save Ami and Allie. And... you should have a little more faith in them. They’re secret agents; this is their job! You can’t just kill everyone because you think it’s not going to work!”
She stared at him for several seconds. “I’m not doing this because I want to murder people, or because I don’t want to save your friends. I’m doing this because I absolutely cannot let this thing get out. If everything goes well and it doesn’t get out of the basement, great. We can do the original plan and evacuate everyone first. But if it does, we need to be ready. It’s already out of the pit. We can’t - I can’t let it get any farther.”
“But you can’t possibly know if it gets out of the basement. You’ll be upstairs.”
“The DSD has monitoring stations everywhere. It knows if something’s trying to break out of the field. I’ll know if it’s too late; this is just insurance.”
Something about the look in her eyes unsettled Nathan. “Are you sure? I just - there are so many people here who just got a chance to get their lives back. The field has stood for years. I really think we need to be careful to make sure it doesn’t collapse ahead of time.”
“What’s more important, Nathan? A few hundred people, or the entire planet? You should leave. Get on the bus. I’m sure the big agent will let you on. It’s not like you can help with the Thing anyway.”
“Okay, we’ve got a plan,” Ella announced. “Hey, what are you two talking about over there?”
“Nothing,” April said, standing quickly. “Come on, Nathan, let’s hear the plan.”
[This, and the next few scenes, together form a large and complicated branch point. It will be difficult for me to guarantee which options can lead to character death, so just take this general warning that, from here until the Thing in the Mines situation has been resolved, multiple options are potentially deadly to multiple characters.]
[Ella: What’s the plan?]
- Sneak around the Thing without using ARS cans. [Quietest, but with less fallback if things go wrong.]
- Set up an ARS field in or near the antechamber as a spot to retreat to, then sneak around the Thing. [Still relatively quiet. Offers some fallback options if things go wrong, but getting there from the pit may prove difficult.]
- Set up an ARS field across the pit. Neutralize the Thing, or at least have that option. [Will likely get the Thing’s attention. Provides the best fallback if things go wrong.]
[Nathan: What should he do about April?]
- Tell everyone what she just said. [Based on past choices, this will force a confrontation.]
- Try to convince her to stay here and help with the rescue. [This won’t be easy. You should specify Nathan’s approach in #story_discussion.]
- Stay quiet.
[Nathan: Where should he go?]
- Leave the building as April said.
️ - Accompany April to the DSD. Try to stop her from doing anything reckless. [If Nathan successfully convinces April as per , this choice will count as .]
- Accompany Ella and the agents to rescue Ami and Allie.
(Winners: , , )
- Sneak around the Thing without using ARS cans. [Quietest, but with less fallback if things go wrong.]
- Set up an ARS field in or near the antechamber as a spot to retreat to, then sneak around the Thing. [Still relatively quiet. Offers some fallback options if things go wrong, but getting there from the pit may prove difficult.]
- Set up an ARS field across the pit. Neutralize the Thing, or at least have that option. [Will likely get the Thing’s attention. Provides the best fallback if things go wrong.]
[Nathan: What should he do about April?]
- Tell everyone what she just said. [Based on past choices, this will force a confrontation.]
- Try to convince her to stay here and help with the rescue. [This won’t be easy. You should specify Nathan’s approach in #story_discussion.]
- Stay quiet.
[Nathan: Where should he go?]
- Leave the building as April said.
️ - Accompany April to the DSD. Try to stop her from doing anything reckless. [If Nathan successfully convinces April as per , this choice will count as .]
- Accompany Ella and the agents to rescue Ami and Allie.
(Winners: , , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 68
“We’re going to use the ARS cans we have here as a barrier, to basically set up a safe area and cover a retreat if we have to run. It’s far enough away that we should be able to get set up without getting its attention, and in a confined enough area that the field should be really strong. Hopefully strong enough to hold it off for a while. Then, once those are set, we’ll quietly sneak into the pit, get our friends, and get out.”
As she explained, several agents were already moving the large, heavy canisters into position near the doors. The machines whirred to life as fans spun up. “So, sneaking in?” April asked. “Sounds like you’ll want a small team.”
“I was thinking five people: two for each person we’re wanting to extract, plus one more to make sure nothing gets the drop on us. Everyone else can stay here in the field as backup.” She glanced back, hearing a change in the fans. “Don’t engage it quite yet; I need to be out of the way before you start it up.”
“Who were you thinking?”
“Well, obviously me to start with. I was hoping you and Nathan would come with as well, then...” She scanned the remaining agents in the room. “Uh... Romas and Fei?” Two nods. “Great. Everyone on board?”
Nathan gave a thumbs up, hoping that April would just go with it. Unfortunately, she didn’t. “Nathan can go if he wants, but I’m not going.”
Ella blinked. “Why not? You’re the one with all the super secret extra information you won’t share; you’re kind of necessary.”
“The super secret information that isn’t relevant here.” April clenched her fists, then calmed slightly. “I need to do something else. It’s important.”
“Do what? You can’t keep all these secrets; we’re risking our lives for you here. Give us something!”
Nathan interjected, stepping in between the two. “Uh, April, can I talk to you for a second?” He dragged her away from the increasingly-exasperated Ella. “Please, you need to help with this.”
“No. It’s not going to work anyway, and I need to be ready to make sure it doesn’t get out. No one else knows how to collapse the field. I can’t risk it.”
“But no one else knows as much about the Thing as you do! If you-”
“It’s not RELEVANT INFORMATION! I keep telling you but - ugh.”
Nathan changed track. “Okay, okay. But you’ve also got your crazy fire powers, and that new bracelet. I’m sure with your help we can-”
“Look, you’re not going to change my mind. Some things are more important. I’m not going.” She half-turned, facing partially towards the elevator. “You really should leave. I thought there could be a chance if the Thing wasn’t out yet, but... It’s too late. Just get out.”
There was that worrying expression again. “April. April! Hey, look.” She turned, now only looking frustrated. “Don’t... don’t do anything stupid, okay? At least?”
“When have I ever done anything stupid?”
He didn’t get a chance to answer before she turned away and stepped into the elevator that was still waiting on the floor. The doors shut. I have a really bad feeling about that.
“No luck, huh?” Ella asked as Nathan returned to the others. “Well, hopefully whatever it is, it’s worth it.” She muttered something under her breath that Nathan couldn’t quite catch, but it clearly wasn’t positive. “Uhh... Cal, I think you’re up next. You in?”
The agent assented and stepped away from the canisters to gear up. Ella sighed. “Tell me, Nathan, should I be worried about whatever it is she’s doing?”
He hesitated. Several seconds passed.
“Great. Fantastic. Okay, let’s get this over with before anything worse happens.”
A few minutes later, Nathan, Ella, and the three other agents quietly slipped through the double doors and into the main room. Fans spun up behind them as the ARS canisters engaged. Ella let out a gasp and almost fell, but quickly recovered as they kept moving.
“You okay?” Nathan whispered. “Something about the field? You kept saying you can’t be in it.”
“I’m fine. I’m... weird in a very special way. Allie’s like this too. Neither one of us can be in a reality stabilized field for too long or bad things happen. Totally safe for you and the others, though; I’ll be happy to explain more later.”
“Nope, yep, later works!”
The Thing didn’t move as they approached, remaining floating calmly in place over the pit. Its silvery glow felt wrong somehow, as if it were distorting space around him. He felt like he could see the back of his own head.
“Turn on your PRS,” Ella whispered. “Lowest power; we don’t want to alarm it.”
Nathan moved the dial on his backpack as Ella had showed him. Nothing obvious happened - there was no light and no sound - but the twisting sensation immediately vanished. He almost choked as a knot in his lungs undid itself and breathing became several times easier. “Holy-”
“Yeah, these things are good. Now come on; we need to hurry before it notices what’s going on or I pass out.”
“Pass out? How long do we have?”
“Don’t get too worked up; I can handle low power on a PRS for half an hour or so. It’s just the ARS field that’s strong enough to really cause problems. Look, do you see them?”
Nathan peered over the edge of the pit. Sure enough, four human-sized forms were visible lying on a bed of loose, sharp rocks. Glittering dust covered everyone, and even from here, it was obvious at least two of them were badly injured. “Four people? Who are the other two?”
Ella shrugged, helping one of the agents - Nathan had already forgotten who was who - attach a series of ropes to the pit’s edge. “Beats me. Maybe one of them’s Bolte? I’d love it if Allie managed to take that fucker out.”
Nathan didn’t know how to help with the rope, and it seemed like the agents had it under control anyway, so he stared up at the Thing. It still hadn’t budged an inch from when they had entered the room, unmoving except for a slowly shimmering silver sheen on its skin, like the pattern light made when passing through water. Something is very wrong. Wingate said the Thing was so dangerous and so violent that all would be lost if it ever escaped the pit. But... here it is. Just sitting here.
A sensation flashed through his mind as he stared. Two bright lights, the sound of shattering glass. He blinked and looked away, perturbed. Ella gestured him over. “Come on, let’s go.”
The five of them zipped down into the pit, the Thing still hovering gently overhead. As they descended, it quickly became apparent who the extra two people were.
Nathan ran over to Ami as soon as he touched down, not daring to move her but desperately hoping to find a heartbeat. Blood everywhere. One of the agents - Fei, he thought - shoved him out of the way and got to work with several glowing blue strips of material. After a few moments, a nod. “Alive, for now. I’ll try to keep her that way.”
Ella knelt next to Allie. Her sister burned with fever, her skin sickly pale with an overabundance of lacre floating just beneath it. She had collapsed just next to Ami, her bloody palms evidence that she had passed out trying to heal her friend. The other agents wouldn’t be able to do anything about that, not with the equipment they could bring into the pit. This would have to be Ella alone.
She grabbed Allie’s hand in her own, closed her eyes, and focused.
The remaining two agents, briefed on Ella’s experiences in the office building, recognized Eden and the bell-head right away. The brass-belled creature was dead, though not from its fall. Something had scorched its body with searing heat afterwards to finish the job, though it wasn’t apparent what had done so.
Eden, on the other hand, was alive and seemingly uninjured. As Agent Romas knelt, trying to get an idea of their status, their eyes opened and they started to sit up. “Wait, wait, don’t - huh?”
Ella didn’t have a lot of lacre abilities. She couldn’t heal, she couldn’t purge; she couldn’t even glow. For some reason, Allie was the one with all the flashy magic, while Ella only got the downsides such as passing out and dying if left in a reality stabilized field for too long. She didn’t complain, though. She often joked that she had gotten the greatest power of them all - being created in the first place - so Allie had to get all the other cool stuff to make up for it.
Still, she could do one thing: she could manipulate the raw liquid just as Allie could. And in this case, she could force it out of her sister’s skin and back into the blood vessels where it belonged. It wasn’t often she had to do this - she and Allie rarely went on missions together since they lived so far apart - but they had teamed up before and Allie had overextended herself before. It had been pretty harrowing the first time, with her sister bloating up like a balloon before she had been able to put her back together, but at this point she knew what she was doing. The AIB also had equipment that could do this, but it wasn’t very portable, and getting Allie upstairs in this condition would be near-impossible.
“And now...” she whispered, drawing a little circle with her finger. Lacre obeyed her directions. A weak heartbeat began to strengthen. Enough lacre had returned that Allie’s own body could do the rest. “Fucking christ, you need to stop scaring me like that.” Ella put her hands on her hips, berating her unconscious sister. “You can’t keep killing yourself trying to save people. I’m not always going to be here to wake you back up.” A shaky exhale. “God, it’s a good thing Lantoon let me out, hey? Imagine the trouble you’d be in if he hadn’t, or if we had been a few minutes late.” She paused, imagining it. “Actually, maybe don’t. Not very pleasant.”
Agent Romas approached, holding onto Eden’s arm. “Ma’am, this one’s okay. Has some interesting info.”
Ella glared. “You again. Had a change of heart, but properly this time?” She noticed Nathan’s head pop up as he heard Eden speaking.
“I-I’m sorry. Things went way too far, and then Mr Bolte... I-I’m not entirely sure. It’s all so blurry.”
“Fine, it’s fine.” She pushed down her anger to deal with later, her favorite coping strategy. “I knew you weren’t as evil as Bolte thought. But... if he’s not with you, where is he?”
Eden pointed straight up. “He’s in there.”
The Thing still remained stationary.
“He’s... in the Thing? He can possess it? Why is he just sitting there?”
“I don’t know! That was his plan all along, but I thought he needed her-” he pointed at Allie- “and a descendant of Mr Hane. Something must have gone wrong, but I can hardly remember...”
Ella put it together. “Descendant of Hane. April - the guy in the elevator. He called her Ms Hane. Nathan. NATHAN! Who is she? What is she DOING?!”
“I - I don’t-”
The Thing moved. Its limbs unfolded and new ones grew with equal ease. Its eyes opened and it looked down without needing to turn. A wide smile.
[Due to previous choices, Allie and Ami are both completely knocked out and cannot act in this branch point. Neither of them will be able to do anything useful for quite some time, so don’t rely on Allie’s magic purging powers to help out here.]
[Eden and the agents will do something, partially in response to Ella and Nathan’s actions.]
[Ella]
- Distract the Thing to give the others time to escape.
- Run for it along with the others. Defend the group as best she can.
[Nathan]
- Run for it along with the others. What can he do against the Thing anyway?
- Distract the Thing to give the others time to escape.
- He keeps seeing those lights, hearing that glass. Get closer to the Thing. Look. Listen. It has to mean something. [This is (obviously) quite risky for Nathan. It may go better if you have a good idea what the flashes mean. Specify in #story_discussion.]
[April]
- It’s too late. Do it.
- It’s not too late. Hold off. [Requires a 60% supermajority.]
(Winners: , , )
- Distract the Thing to give the others time to escape.
- Run for it along with the others. Defend the group as best she can.
[Nathan]
- Run for it along with the others. What can he do against the Thing anyway?
- Distract the Thing to give the others time to escape.
- He keeps seeing those lights, hearing that glass. Get closer to the Thing. Look. Listen. It has to mean something. [This is (obviously) quite risky for Nathan. It may go better if you have a good idea what the flashes mean. Specify in #story_discussion.]
[April]
- It’s too late. Do it.
- It’s not too late. Hold off. [Requires a 60% supermajority.]
(Winners: , , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 69
Ella looked up. “We need to go. Everyone, PRS power way up! We need to make it back to the entrance!”
There were two ropes leading back out of the pit and eight people who needed evac, two of which were unconscious. Ami and Fei went up first, clipping onto the winch-like devices that wheeled them upwards with surprising speed; Fei had to keep a close grip on Ami as they went to prevent her from crashing against the wall. The Thing ignored them completely.
“Welcome back, the second Ms Ortiez.” It spoke in an old, tired voice - Bolte’s voice - without moving its mouth, simply producing a sound that vibrated through the room. “And your friends, of course. Here to watch the dawn of a new era?”
“I’m here to stop you, Bolte.” Ella gestured to the ropes, motioning for Romas and Eden to go next. “Whatever it is you’re doing.”
The silver creature gently floated lower, again ignoring the people on the ropes. “If you don’t even know what I’m doing, how can you be so sure you want to stop it?”
“You are currently a 30-foot tall silver space baby. You have tried to kidnap, kill, or possess me and my friends multiple times. You are evil, Bolte, and I don’t say that lightly. You can’t convince me that whatever you’re doing is right.”
“Even if I explained? Oh, there’s so much I learned after you and your prime left me for dead in the wreckage of my beautiful Factory. You would not believe how much free time being dead gives you.”
“I’m gonna keep stalling,” Ella whispered to Nathan and Cal, the only two conscious people left. “Cal, take Allie next. I’ll go last with Nathan.” To Bolte, she yelled up again. “You want to explain, then? I’m all ears!”
“In a moment. But first...” The Thing rotated in two different directions, stretching like a film of putty. A brilliant lance of silver light flared against the ceiling, splashing like a tongue of flame into a rotating disk of energy. The room shook and chips dropped from the ceiling. A low hum became audible in the background as the disk remained, chewing at the ceiling. “We do need to leave before your friend upstairs does anything rash.”
Ella glared at Nathan. “Is that what she’s doing up there? Gonna collapse the field on us?”
“Hopefully not?”
“Oh yeah, real hopeful.” In a louder voice, she continued. “Alright, Bolte, very fancy. Now, what are you doing?”
“Simple. This failed clone is a being of near-pure lacre; hardly any human components left, unlike you or your prime. It contains enough power to wipe out all life on the planet if left unchecked. The first Ms Ortiez here released it, so I am containing it.”
The background hum grew louder, more piercing. It was still muffled by the PRS barriers, but it was slowly breaking through. “So you’re going to put it back in the pit where it belongs and let us destroy it, then? Help us save the world?”
“Don’t be naive. It also contains enough power to reshape the world at will. It would be the height of folly to destroy such a potent tool; just think of all the good that could be done in the right hands.”
Cal and Allie zipped up the wall. Ella stepped slightly away, hoping to keep Bolte’s attention. “And your hands would be the right ones? What are you going to do, rebuild the Factory? Kidnap more people from the surface to work there? Finally manage to kill me?”
“No, no. You’re thinking too small. This creature can enact global change. It is connected by its pure blood to the very living core of the planet. Imagine what humanity could do if that living core could be harnessed.” The Thing moved several arms and images flashed in the air. “Immortality. An end to scarcity. Scientific advances beyond all compare. I had a very long time to think after my first death, and even more after my second; let me elaborate.”
The Thing reached out an arm and snatched Allie away from the rope, its arm blurring and steaming as it got close to Cal, then reforming as it retreated from the PRS field. Ella shouted and summoned her gun, firing ineffectually at Bolte. He held Allie up like a puppet, using her to act out his next several sentences.
“I created the Factory to help all people, not just some. I told both Ms Ortiezes this, but they both refused to listen. By extension, I told you, and you did the same. They spoke of ‘humanity,’ and how my work went against the very nature of what it meant to be human. How the sacrifices I had to make were just too great. How, even after all of their blessings, they still remained only human and wished to remain as such.”
A sigh. Cal had reached the top by now. Nathan pulled at Ella’s arm, trying to get her over to the ropes. “Look at the world around you. Not this building, but outside of it. Hatred, fear, ignorance: humanity is too limited by itself to ever be truly great. But I can fix that. I can elevate our species’ minds and bodies, accelerating our path towards the stars. I know how to do it, and with this creature, I have the power to. I can fix everything.”
The Thing stared at Allie, then moved its arm over the side of the pit and dumped her unceremoniously onto solid ground. Agent Cal rushed over to help. “I can forgive even her, if it means a perfect world afterwards.”
Ella lowered her gun, shocked. Nathan clipped her into the ropes and they both rose off the ground.
“So, Ms Ella Ortiez. Splinter of a descendant of the one whose treachery cost me everything. I admit I got slightly carried away when we last spoke, and I apologize. Do you truly wish to be the ‘good guy?’ Then stand aside, deactivate the field, and help us all escape before Ms Hane does anything rash. Don’t just save the world; perfect it.”
Ella and Nathan rose out of the pit and climbed to their feet. The Thing floated nearly level with them, its head alone taller than they were. Fei and Romas had gotten Ami and Eden through the ARS field to temporary safety and were waving them back, while Cal was about halfway there carrying Allie. The silver disk still chewed at the ceiling like a massive drill bit, sending trembling shocks through the room.
[Ella]
- Do as he says. Regardless of everything else he’s done, he didn’t kill Allie right now when he so easily could have. He apologized. Maybe he has a point.
- She said he couldn’t convince her and she meant it. Bolte is evil. Don’t believe a word he says. Keep to the original plan; destroy him and the Thing together once and for all.
[Nathan]
- Go along with Bolte. [As above.]
- Don’t go along with Bolte. [As above.]
[April]
- It’s too late. Do it.
- It’s not too late. Hold off. [Requires a 75% supermajority.]
(Winners: , , )
- Do as he says. Regardless of everything else he’s done, he didn’t kill Allie right now when he so easily could have. He apologized. Maybe he has a point.
- She said he couldn’t convince her and she meant it. Bolte is evil. Don’t believe a word he says. Keep to the original plan; destroy him and the Thing together once and for all.
[Nathan]
- Go along with Bolte. [As above.]
- Don’t go along with Bolte. [As above.]
[April]
- It’s too late. Do it.
- It’s not too late. Hold off. [Requires a 75% supermajority.]
(Winners: , , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 70
“Absolutely fucking not,” Ella said firmly, motioning to Nathan and backing away from the pit. “I meant what I said. You can talk all high and mighty as much as you like, but I will never fall for one of your tricks again. You’re a murderer, a liar, a kidnapper, and probably a lot of other terrible things, and you are not going to convince me to betray everyone to help you take over the world!”
“Hmm. That’s a shame.”
“That’s it? That’s all you-”
One of the Thing’s arms whipped out and crashed down on Ella as if she were a bothersome insect. A thunderous cloud of dust erupted into the air. Nathan stumbled back, then turned to run. A few droplets of a silvery substance now dotted his clothes where he had been facing the blast.
“ANYONE ELSE WANT TO FIGHT BACK?” the Thing roared, swiveling a silver lance of light around the room and causing rocks to explode outwards from the walls and ceiling. Nathan sprinted for the doorway, unable to see anyone else in the cascade of boulders and just hoping for blind luck to make it to the door intact. “I’m doing this for YOU!” Bolte shouted, clearly furious. “Why doesn’t anyone UNDERSTAND THAT?”
Nathan leapt for it, crashing through the double doors only seconds before they, along with the wall, simply detonated. He looked up in horror, bruised and scratched but largely unharmed.
The pit, and the room surrounding it, was gone. The Thing floated maybe a hundred feet away in the epicenter of a nova of silver light. Crumbled stone whirled around the room like a tornado, smashing into the few surviving areas that were still intact and toppling them as well. Past the demolished walls and ceiling, there wasn’t just more rock and dirt as he would have expected since they were so far underground. Instead, Nathan could see a reflective, hazy barrier just a little past where the wall had formerly been, like the skin of a bubble. Beyond that bubble was a semicircular tunnel on one side and a swarm of lights and movement on the other. He squinted, trying to make it out through the chaos. Yellow stripes, pillars, turnstiles... that was a metro station! The barrier must be the DSD field itself, and just on the other side was... reality. The Thing pried at the bubble with an arrangement of silver lances, distorting and stretching it but not quite breaking through.
Closer to him, the floor cut off abruptly right at the edge of the ARS field. Everything within and behind the barrier looked untouched, while everything outside had been utterly pulverized. He could feel a subtle vibration and almost felt more grounded, somehow.
Someone helped him up. One of the agents; Romas, he thought. “Nathan, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. None of the rocks hit me.” He paused, still not sure he believed it. “But Ella...”
“Nothing we can do for her now. We need to get out of here before it overwhelms the field. Either one; ours or the building’s. Get to an elevator, now!”
Nathan stumbled towards an open car, feeling numb. Someone dragged Allie into the elevator with him; she was barely breathing and seemed almost... blurry at the edges of her shape. Ami was next, still unconscious but wrapped in glowing blue bandages and no longer losing blood. Eden, Romas, and four other agents stayed behind to wait for the next car.
The doors shut and the elevator trundled upwards. Allie’s form stabilized as the ARS field was left behind. The three other agents in the car were speaking, sounding urgent, but Nathan could barely hear them.
...
April stared at the machine’s monitors, watching as the energy spike grew larger and larger. She had her hand on the lever that would - hopefully, at least - collapse the field and destroy everything inside it exactly as promised. She gripped the metal tightly, feeling the grain against her palm. It was warm. She had been holding it for a while now, unwilling to let go.
But also unwilling to pull the lever.
For all her angry assurances to Nathan and the others, she didn’t really want to do this. It was hard - dreadfully so - to pull the lever that would end her own life as well as that of hundreds more people.
She drummed her fingers on the metal. Her nails made little clinking noises.
Of course the agents wouldn’t succeed; when had the government ever done anything right? That’s why she was here, as the failsafe to make sure that even if the worst happened, they wouldn’t destroy the world. So the Thing wouldn’t get out. The field’s readings were now so far out of their designed parameters that the scale had shifted up by three orders of magnitude. It was a miracle it was still holding.
Clearly, everything had gone wrong. The Thing had gotten out and was attacking the barrier. It was going to escape.
It was time to pull the lever.
She closed her hand again, applying just a little bit of force. Enough to feel some resistance. All she had to do was move her hand down. Twelve inches would be enough; the machine would take care of the rest.
“...”
She looked down instead. In her other hand was the little journal found in Wingate’s office. The man who had been as much her grandfather as Henry. The man who had helped raise her after the accident. The man who... who had tried to bring her brother back to life.
She read the first three paragraphs again.
“April, I am so, so sorry for what I’ve done. I wish I could tell you how, or why, or talk about everything that happened, but there isn’t the space. I tried everything I could to make things better. You deserved more. You needed your brother back. I... tried to return him.
The Thing in the mines is Jeremiah. I tried to clone him, to return his mind and memories to a body formed of lacre and built with samples from the crash.
I failed. And due to my stupid, prideful overconfidence, I ruined everything with my failure. I will never be able to make it up to you, or Henry, or myself, but at least I can explain as much as I can before I need to go. I’ll start at the beginning. I’m so sorry.”
She closed the book before getting into the details. She had read the whole thing several times already.
Wingate had been right about one thing, at least. It would have been so much easier if she had stopped after the first page.
She tightened her grip on the lever that would kill her, everyone in the building, and her brother. Again. Her hand was starting to cramp from holding it so long.
Breathe in. She would do it. On the exhale, she would let her arm move with her breath. Twelve inches.
A little amber light blinked on the control panel. April paused, glancing at it. She didn’t recognize its significance and the label didn’t clear things up.
Another light blinked on, red this time. Then two more. In seconds, the entire panel was ablaze with alarms, alerts, and warnings. The only one that mattered to her, however, was the central master alarm. The one that only turned on if the field was in danger of imminent collapse.
The one that had just lit up for the first time in twenty years.
[This choice marks the end of the branch point that started in Scene 67.]
[April]
- It’s beyond too late. Do it, right now, or there won’t be another chance.
- It’s beyond too late. There’s no point. Don’t do it.
[Nathan]
- Get out. There’s nothing more that he can do. Escape.
- Find April. Everything’s coming apart. She needs to leave too.
(Winners: , )
- It’s beyond too late. Do it, right now, or there won’t be another chance.
- It’s beyond too late. There’s no point. Don’t do it.
[Nathan]
- Get out. There’s nothing more that he can do. Escape.
- Find April. Everything’s coming apart. She needs to leave too.
(Winners: , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 71
April gasped. She had hesitated too long. Now or never.
Nathan crashed through the door just like he had less than an hour earlier. “April! We need to-”
She pulled the lever.
...
Ami could barely move. Her body alternated between bands of debilitating pain and tingly numbness. She was in a bus along with dozens of other people. The world was silent and, for a moment, she was afraid she had gone deaf.
The earsplitting crack that followed erased that fear.
The bus rocked, but managed to stay upright. The driver slowed it to a stop as mutters broke out across the seats. Outside, the sky shone silver.
The Hane Corp office building simply appeared in the middle of downtown, fusing with the existing buildings already there. Walls and ceilings intersected at crazy angles; pipes and wires of all sorts were severed by floors appearing where they hadn’t been before. The parking garage demolished a convention center. There was an all-encompassing boneshaking rumble as the basements and mines of the building competed with existing utility lines, subway tunnels, and simple dirt and rock for space. Several roads immediately collapsed, with many more buckling and cracking. Buildings sank into the ground. The Hane Corp building itself tilted at a crazy angle, its structural steel now intersecting with polystyrene and linoleum.
Rising towards the radio mast atop the office building, a silver star burned in the evening sky. Official-looking agents ran through the bus shouting orders and the vehicle started moving again, now bouncing along the ruined street. Ami groaned as it felt like her bones were grating against each other. No one was paying attention to her; all spare eyes were on the Thing in the sky.
...
Nathan picked himself up off the floor, wincing as he brushed debris off his arms. The room was pitch black. “April? April, are you okay?”
A mumble in response. He flicked on his phone flashlight and rushed over, finding her pinned beneath a length of sheet metal that had sprouted through the wall. With effort, he was able to shift it just enough that she could wriggle free. After confirming that she didn’t have any serious injuries, Nathan looked around.
The DSD controls were gone, overwritten by a section of foundation and water pipes that had materialized in the wall. The door was missing as well, simply erased by a solid block of dirt and severed electrical wires. More random chunks of buildings and debris phased through the walls in various places, compacting the room into a strange, uncomfortable shape. He swallowed, not finding an exit. “Did, uh, did it work? Are we dead?” He didn’t really think so, but figured he might as well get the obvious question out of the way first.
“...No. It didn’t.” April stood up, narrowly avoiding whacking her head on the ceiling, and ran a hand over the dead, ruined controls. “I waited too long. It must have weakened the field so much that trying to shift it like I did just... AGH!”
“So...” He poked at the dirt-filled doorway. A trickle of sediment fell to the floor. “What happened instead? Did the field just shut down? Is this the real world?”
“I guess?” She smacked the side of the machine, but it was well and truly dead. “I don’t know; maybe it just dumped everything out at random. That would explain why we’re underground.”
“You think everyone survived, then?”
“That’s not what you should be worried about. The Thing got out. We don’t have a field anymore. We can’t kill it. It’s... it’s over.”
“...” Nathan kicked at the doorway. More dirt spilled out. “You don’t really believe that. There’s got to be something else we can do.”
“No. You read what the journal said too. You saw what the Thing can do. Clearly those agents - trained on exactly this sort of thing - couldn’t stop it. We’re doomed. Might as well just sit in this room and wait for the end.”
“The agents...” Nathan kept prodding at the dirt with his shoe, scraping a larger hole away. “They have those devices that can stabilize reality - ARS, right?”
“And? Clearly that didn’t work.”
“That’s because we didn’t use them to attack. When it blew up the basement, nothing in the field was touched. I think if we get it in the field for long enough...”
“Sure. Like it’s going to let that happen now that it’s free. You did notice it can fly, right?”
“Look, we still have a chance and this doom and gloom attitude isn’t helping. I just watched it mur - murder someone, and I’m not about to let it get any farther. Now, are you going to just sit here and wait, or are you going to help me get out of here?”
“...” April closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. “Fine. But you need to tell me what happened down there.”
...
“Oh no, oh no no no, not again.”
Ella grasped ineffectually at the flowing surface of the silver-white liquid rolling in an endless sea beneath her. Distantly, as if through a reflection, she saw her body. Smashed flat, crushed beneath tons of rock and debris, lacre pooling beneath it. Dead. Clearly. She had been overconfident and had paid the price.
But.
That damn lacre. The stuff had its hooks in her, tying her to the living realm and weighing her down; she couldn’t move on. A distant peaceful light sparkled somewhere far above, beckoning her to slip free and... just... leave.
But she couldn’t. The rippling, silver-white sea gripped her wrists and ankles, trying to force her beneath the surface. The gentle tug from the sparkle above wasn’t strong enough and although she fought, she was losing ground.
The lacre inside her had big plans, and those plans didn’t involve going out like a chump after being flattened by Bolte. She remembered this happening to Allie, back when they had shared memories. The same welcoming starry void, flooded by the same well of poisonous liquid. If that stuff beat her, if it pulled her beneath the waves, her corpse would rise up as a lacre beast and kill and kill and kill until it was slain. Allie had gotten through this by sealing the lacre inside herself, accepting it as a new part of her and taking it all in. But there was so much here. An ocean of the stuff.
Ella struggled, drowning. She couldn’t absorb everything here. Right? What would that do to her?
- Try to absorb the lacre. Accept it; contain it. [Ella will enter Nothing.]
✨ - Try to break free. Ascend to the light. Move on. Let go. [Ella will die.]
- Don’t fight it. Maybe there’s a use for a mindless, nigh-invincible killing machine. Maybe one involving Bolte’s stupid face. [Ella will become a lacre beast.]
(Winner: )
- Try to absorb the lacre. Accept it; contain it. [Ella will enter Nothing.]
✨ - Try to break free. Ascend to the light. Move on. Let go. [Ella will die.]
- Don’t fight it. Maybe there’s a use for a mindless, nigh-invincible killing machine. Maybe one involving Bolte’s stupid face. [Ella will become a lacre beast.]
(Winner: )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 72
“...”
Well, it wasn’t like she had any better ideas.
“Alright, you...” Ella tried to come up with a suitably insulting name for the lacre ocean, but couldn’t figure one out and just awkwardly trailed off. At least no one was around to watch. “If Allie could do this, so can I. I was born of this stuff. You can’t beat me.”
She opened her arms, sighed out a deep breath, and took the lacre back. Slowly at first, trickling into her feet and legs, but then faster as the ocean whirled into a tornado around her and burrowed in wherever it could. It didn’t hurt; it didn’t resist. The liquid seemed to want this, or at least be okay with it. That made Ella very suspicious, but not enough to stop. Her other options at this point seemed to be floating towards the light or drowning in the lacre sea; neither was particularly appealing.
“I control you. I am you.” The ocean receded with staggering speed, draining back into her body and leaving behind nothing but a barren starry void. After a minute, there was nothing left.
Ella looked around. She didn’t feel any different. The light had gone, as had the reflection of her dead body, but she was still... somewhere. When Allie had done this, she had been dumped into Nothing, a... place(?) absent of anything at all. No lacre, no stars, no void. But this didn’t look anything like that. There was a sort of floor, formed of a dark glassy substance, and stars and nebulae were visible in the distance. Soft, multicolored light glowed in all directions. Peaceful.
“So... now what?”
Nothing happened.
“...” Ella took an experimental step in a random direction. The floor worked. The horizon moved as she would expect. The stars didn’t vanish. “Do I get to go, or...?”
Something fell on her head.
“Ow! Hey, what-” Ella spun around, looking for the culprit, and spotted a little pebble on the ground, about the size of a walnut.
She raised an eyebrow, confused, and bent down to pick it up. The thing was heavier than it looked, maybe the weight of a large apple instead of the walnut it appeared to be. The pebble’s surface was rough and a little damp, but she couldn’t make out any fine details. Something pulsed within.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
Nothing answered. “Of course not.” She tapped it with her fingers, trying to get a sense if it was hollow, and the thing split open. Half of the shell dropped away, revealing the stem of a tiny white plant. Little silvery leaves unfurled as the thing started to grow from what must have been a seed. Ella put the sprouting plant down and backed away as it rapidly grew from seed to sapling to full blown silver-white tree in a matter of minutes. Its trunk was the same color as the lacre that had until recently flooded this place.
Nothing happened for a bit, so Ella decided to assume it was done. She stepped closer, circling the trunk and peering up into the branches, but didn’t see anything particularly useful. Just a big, silver tree. Until she put her hand on the trunk.
Images burned through her mind, faster than she could process or understand. A ball of fire. Plains of basalt. An endless ocean. Hot, steaming jungles. Farmlands viewed from a mountain. A modern city. A molten, beating heart and a fragment of some cosmic song.
She yelped and pulled her hand away, glaring at the tree.
A green crystal intricately carved into the shape of a stylized heart dropped from some hidden branch and landed unceremoniously at her feet. Ella stared at it, bemused, then shrugged and reached down to pick it up.
The very instant her fingers touched the crystal, she woke up.
Ella gasped and sputtered, her lungs filled with fluid and flattened by her crushed ribs. It was dark and she couldn’t breathe. She was holding something glassy and warm in her hand - the green crystal heart.
I need to heal. I can’t heal. I don’t know how to heal. I’m going to die again. Help help HELP AAAAAA-
A gush of warmth flowed from the heart to her hand to her shattered torso. Ribs shifted and her lungs reinflated, spraying out gobs of lacre with violent coughs. Ella lay down in the pile of rubble as the crystal heart knit her body back together, hardly daring to believe her luck.
What the hell had just happened?
...
It had taken several hours of strenuous digging, broken up every so often by a fiery explosion from April and her bracelet to take care of some of the bigger rocks, but the two of then had finally gotten out of the sealed-off DSD control room. They tiredly emerged into a semicircular tunnel containing metal tracks: a subway line. Picking a direction at random, Nathan was beyond relieved when a station came into view after only a few minutes of walking. He and April pulled themselves up onto the deserted platform, climbed the partially-shattered stairs, and emerged onto the city streets.
It was chaos.
Tornado sirens wailed and the entire city was blanketed by an impenetrable storm cloud. Multiple funnel clouds were visible tearing entire blocks away from the ground, while torrential rain thundered from the sky and flooded the streets, fountaining into sinkholes opened by Hane Corp’s reappearance. Silver lightning lanced between clouds, all culminating at a single burning ivory star that hovered hundreds of feet above the Hane Corp building.
People screamed and ran, cars lay abandoned, and the wind whipped rain into stinging sheets. Nathan blinked against the downpour and the city was momentarily something else. Buildings replaced with silhouettes. Warm, calm, perfectly clear water flooding the place up to mid-calf. Colorful stars above and below. He blinked again and was back in reality.
“WHAT DO WE DO?!” he shouted over the wind. “It’s up there, right?”
April shielded her eyes with a hand, peering at the silver star. “Looks like it! But we couldn’t get there even without the goddamn tornado apocalypse. We need to...” A pause. “I don’t know. It’s pretty hopeless.”
[Choose one from each block]
- Call Ami and...
- Use April’s fire powers to...
- Try to help anyone around as you...
- Head for the silver star.
- Stay put.
- Head away from the city center. The storm grows less out there.
(Winners: / , )
- Call Ami and...
- Use April’s fire powers to...
- Try to help anyone around as you...
- Head for the silver star.
- Stay put.
- Head away from the city center. The storm grows less out there.
(Winners: / , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 73
“Well, we gotta stop the Thing!” Nathan exclaimed, pulling April out of the subway entrance. “Come on, we need to get to the building!”
“Are you insane? What are we going to do when we get there?”
“Let me worry about that. You make sure we can make it.”
“...” She glared at him briefly, then threw up her hands at the chaos around them and ran forward. “Alright, why not! Why the hell not.”
Nathan followed, fishing out his phone. He didn’t have the number for Lantoon or any of the other agents, but he did have Ami’s. Hopefully someone would be conscious and nearby enough to pick up. One ring passed. Two rings. April blasted a pile of broken cars out of the way with a burst of fire. Three.
“...Nathan?” A weak, quiet voice, but one he knew.
“Ami?! You’re awake?”
“You’re alive? I thought - after the building - you - owww...”
“It’s okay. I’m okay. Please don’t hurt yourself talking. I’m-”
“You think I can’t handle a little talking? Please.”
He grinned briefly. “Of course you can. But, listen, things are really bad right now. Do you know what’s going on? Is Agent Lantoon with you?”
“Yeah. We’re in the bus. I don’t know how I got here or what’s happening. Everyone’s trying to figure out a plan.”
“Yep, same here. I’m on my way to the building with... someone you don’t know. We’re going to take down the Thing. Is there any way I can talk to Lantoon? I need his help.”
“...Yeah.” Nathan heard Ami speaking quietly to someone else in the background. A few moments passed, then a much louder voice. “Go for Lantoon.”
“This is Nathan. I got out of the building with April, just like I said I would. We’re heading to the Thing and are going to take it down, but we need your help.”
“I take it you have a plan, then?”
“Do I ever.”
...
Ella sat up.
Her... everything still hurt, but not bad enough that she couldn’t move. She could breathe, look around, and exist on a pile of rubble. All things considered, she had been very lucky. The heart still tingled in her grasp; she didn’t want to set it down out of fear that it would suddenly take its healing energy back. Plus, it had to be important. It was speaking to her.
Well, sort of. The heart didn’t speak in words, but rather in gentle flows of emotion and sensation. The dominating moods she got from it right now were unease and determination, paired with a desire to ascend, to climb. It definitely had a plan.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?” Ella asked as she gingerly got to her feet. She shuffled forward, almost falling down the slope as rocks shifted under her. “I’d love a little more detail if I’m going to risk my recently restored life for you.”
The heart didn’t exactly reply, but she got a sense of danger, crossed with a bright silver glow that was all too familiar. “We’re going to deal with Bolte? I’m not really in any condition to put up a fight,” she admitted. “He’ll just flatten me again and then where will you be?”
No response, just a deepening current of determination.
“Great.” She successfully did not fall off a ladder and grumbled as she climbed. “You know, Allie’s usually the one who deals with this mystic magic b- Allie! What happened after I... Did she get out? The others? I don’t think we’re in the field anymore, but I’m definitely not dead - anymore, at least. What happened?”
Nothing.
“Of course. And my phone...” She took a breather on the next landing up, fishing it out of her pockets. “Crushed. Obviously. Just like all my other stuff. So I can’t call anyone.” Ella put a hand behind her back and closed her fingers, feeling them grab onto a molded grip. “At least my gun survived. Probably don’t need it right now, though.” She put it back.
A glance upwards. The building rumbled and tilted to one side. Silver light filtered down from the roof.
Ella looked down at the heart. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”
...
Nathan stood at the base of the Hane Corp office building. The lobby doors hung broken maybe twenty feet away. The road and many other nearby buildings had partially sunk into the ground. A silver star pulsed at the very top, drawing in streams of silver light from the storm, the air, and the ground far below. He took a deep breath.
April let out a low breath. “I didn’t catch most of your plan because I was busy blowing stuff up. I hope it’s good. So... how are we starting this off?”
️ - Stabilize the building so it can be climbed more safely. [Slow, but low risk.]
⏫ - Rush up the building quickly before it collapses. [Faster, but high risk.]
- Just fly up to the top. [Very fast, but need to be careful with the storm.]
(Winner: ️ )
️ - Stabilize the building so it can be climbed more safely. [Slow, but low risk.]
⏫ - Rush up the building quickly before it collapses. [Faster, but high risk.]
- Just fly up to the top. [Very fast, but need to be careful with the storm.]
(Winner: ️ )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 74
“Well, to start with, we’re going to need some help.”
More than half an hour passed before the next phase of the plan could be put into motion. Nathan spent much of that time staring up at the steadily-growing silver star and worrying that they’d be too late. Still, he was confident that trying to climb or fly up the building without stabilizing it first would be suicide.
Several tornadoes passed close by, though they all diverted around the Hane Corp building to leave it standing nearly alone in a sea of rubble. As supporting structures collapsed around it and additional stabilization beams lanced into the sky to prop up what was still standing, large sections of the superstructure simply sloughed off and collapsed to the ground. It seemed he had been correct.
Finally, the supervising engineer proclaimed the building stable enough under the circumstances. They could proceed. Lantoon pulled Nathan aside as they entered the demolished lobby.
“I understand the plan here, and the logic is sound - a strong enough reality stabilized field could disable whatever lacre beast is causing this. But trying to haul those canisters all the way up the building is going to be difficult, and it will take time. Based on how quickly that storm is growing, we might not have it.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“We need to slow the Thing down and keep it occupied until backup can arrive, but based on what you said it did in the basement, we likely don’t have a chance. If it’s controlled by Bolte, either of the Ortiezes might distract him, but Allie’s still completely out of it and Ella... already did. Do you have anything or anyone that might distract Bolte - or the Thing - for a little while, at least?”
“...Maybe.”
...
“So let me get this straight.” April gauged the jump and hopped from one section of the stairway to the next, casually avoiding a hundred-foot drop. “You want me to distract the Thing, when you just said we have no defense against it and that it is easily capable of killing any of us.”
“I don’t like it either, but it’s the fate of the world! You said yourself that the whole planet is more important than the people in this building. I don’t want to make you, but you’re really the only one who has a good chance of surviving. With, uh, your...” He gestured at the bracelet.
Lantoon did a double take as he noticed. “You’ve got one of those? A VitaBand?”
“Nathan.” She glared at him, then gave up. “Yes. What about it?”
“Well, do you know what it does? How to use it? We have a lot more options with that thing, especially since that means that you must have some degree of lacre blood.”
Unusually, April paused. “Lacre blood?”
“These bands only work for people with it. After this is over, we need to talk - figure out what kind of hybrid you are and what sort of abilities you have - but for now just know that you must have some kind of power that depends partially on you and partially on what kind of band you have that activated it.”
“You mean like this?” Even more unusually, she continued to play along, snapping a small flame into existence with a quick exhale. “I’ve been able to do this since I was a kid. The band just seems to make it easier.”
Lantoon hesitated. “This... is unheard of. If you were born with - no, there must have been some event that - but without the band?” He shook his head. “There’s no time to figure it out now, but we’ll be thrilled to help you understand where your abilities come from and how to hone them, as well as how to avoid the negative effects from the VitaBand, after this. At the moment, Nathan is right. With that band and your own abilities, you have the best chance of surviving any length of time against Bolte.”
“Fine.” She rubbed the skin around the bracelet, almost unconsciously. Her voice was uncharacteristically subdued. “I’ll do it.”
Lantoon nodded. “You’re doing a great service for the planet and everyone on it.”
“Don’t I know it,” she grumbled.
Nathan couldn’t think of anything to say. April was always in a strange mood, but this seemed different. More melancholy or resigned than her default grumpy anger. He didn’t know what to do. They were getting close to the roof now, having passed the empty landing on the eighth floor and making their way to the executive suite entrance. The higher levels of the building seemed to be in much better shape, potentially since they would have intersected with fewer neighbors. Wait, that shape wasn’t a piece of the building; that was a person!
“Oh thank god,” Ella exclaimed as she caught sight of them. “You lived. Does that mean that Allie...?”
“She’s fine,” Lantoon responded automatically. “But you-”
Nathan interrupted. “You were crushed! The Thing killed you!”
She shrugged, not stepping away from the wall she was leaning on. “I got better.”
As they got closer, Nathan could tell that Ella was in seriously bad shape. Her clothes were tattered and stained with the silver liquid that he now knew answered for her blood. She still had dozens of scrapes, cuts, and other minor injuries, and seemed to be moving very slowly. But still, much better than straight-up dead. “How did you...?”
She nodded to her left hand, which held a glimmering green crystal heart. “This little fella brought me back. I don’t know why or how exactly, and I’m not going to question it until we’re done here. There’s still Bolte to deal with. The heart knows what it’s doing - I think? - and it told me to wait here for some friends. Now, I guess it’s go time.”
“The heart... talked?”
“No time to explain. You three clearly have a plan. What are we doing?”
- April distracts Bolte.
- Ella distracts Bolte.
- They both distract Bolte.
- Everyone distracts Bolte.
[There are approximately five scenes left in the story.]
(Winner: / )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 74
The storm whirled just overhead, deep grey clouds covering the sky like a solid blanket. Wind howled and lashed at their group, threatening to throw anyone off the building if they made a single misstep. The Hane Corp radio antenna glowed brilliant silver and the Thing floated just above it, channeling lightning from the storm and streams of energy from the ground into the tip of the metal structure. The peaceful gardens were no more, ripped from the roof and scattered to the earth below.
April clenched her fists, typed a short sequence into the VitaBand, and stepped out of the stairwell. Everyone else held back, ready to intervene if needed but otherwise waiting for the reinforcements that would hopefully put an end to the Thing’s rampage.
“JEREMIAH!” she shouted, hurling a bolt of flame skyward. It burst on the Thing’s back, raining sparks onto the antenna.
J-1 rotated in place, still allowing streams of energy to flow through it and into the metal rod. “Excuse me?” it said in Bolte’s voice. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“I’m not talking to you,” April growled, sending up two more explosive fireballs. “I’m talking to JEREMIAH!”
“Hmmm... I don’t think there’s anyone by that name here.” Bolte extended a hand, stopping the next fireball in midair, then directing it back towards the ground. April leapt to the side as it detonated where she had been standing a second earlier. “And I really don’t need any interruptions. So if you could just return to the lobby, I’ll be done here shortly. You can even have the building back, Ms Hane.”
“I don’t want the building.” She made a gesture with both hands, causing a sheet of whirling flame to encircle the Thing. Bolte pushed outwards with two arms and the fire snuffed out. “I want you to get out of that body. It’s not yours.”
Bolte actually chuckled. “Oh, please. You think the original mind would like you any better? There’s nothing here, dear. Just scraps of memory and emotion left over from some would-be scientist messing with procedures he didn’t understand. You think old Mr Pabodie was successful? That he actually cloned your brother? You think there’s any trace of him left in this hideous, glorious abomination?”
He paused for a moment. April seethed.
Another laugh, then a rapid return to seriousness. “No. He’s gone, dear. As much as I have tried, as much as anyone has tried, you cannot bring back the dead. It just doesn’t work that way.”
“You’re lying. He’s still in there. Something. Some part of him.”
Bolte lowered in the air a meter or so. “You’re young and scared. I understand that. But the most you can do is live up to his memory.” A brief pause. “Listen. I do not want to kill you. I’m doing this for all of humanity, of which you are a part. But if you don’t get off this roof, I will have to. Just leave.”
“He’s done listening to her. I’m going in,” Ella whispered, darting out from the stairwell before Nathan or Lantoon could stop her. “HEY BOLTE! REMEMBER ME?”
The Thing swiveled in midair. “Ah, the second Ms Ortiez. You seem to have your prime’s knack for surviving situations that should have killed you. Again, I do apologize for that outburst. It’s so hard to-”
The green crystal heart sparkled of its own accord. Bolte abruptly cut himself off.
“Oh. I understand now.” He hovered motionless in midair, staring up at the storm. Ella glanced at April questioningly. “I see. The heart, the tree. You, your prime, Madelyn. This whole time...”
“Uh...”
Bolte rotated to face Ella. The Thing’s face grew to cover much of its head and upper torso, sprouting additional mouths and eyes to fill the space. Its voice grew louder, less composed. It didn’t even sound like Bolte anymore. “YOU. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN YOU!!”
The Thing swooped down and crashed into Ella, sending her flying off the roof. The green crystal heart slipped from her grasp and arced gracefully into the air as the Thing reared up to catch it. The very last of the silver beams flowed in from the storm. Heavy boots sounded on the stairwell. Time slowed down. Everything came to a head.
[This is a branch point. At least one option or combination of options is potentially deadly.]
[April]
❤️ - Save Ella.
- Save the green crystal heart.
- Intercept the silver beam.
[Nathan]
- Backup is here. Get the ARS field deployed, immediately. The Thing must be neutralized, right now. [April cannot use her powers in her choice, but the Thing will be weakened too.]
- Hold off on the ARS field, at least until the current situation is slightly stabilized. [April can use her powers in her choice, but so can the Thing.]
[Lantoon]
[All of his options are secondary to April’s choice. Lantoon can’t reach anyone in time to save Ella, save the heart, or stop the beam, but he can help afterwards. If a character he intends to help is dead, the next-highest will win.]
- Help Nathan.
- Help Ella.
- Help April.
(Winners: , , )
- Save the green crystal heart.
- Intercept the silver beam.
[Nathan]
- Backup is here. Get the ARS field deployed, immediately. The Thing must be neutralized, right now. [April cannot use her powers in her choice, but the Thing will be weakened too.]
- Hold off on the ARS field, at least until the current situation is slightly stabilized. [April can use her powers in her choice, but so can the Thing.]
[Lantoon]
[All of his options are secondary to April’s choice. Lantoon can’t reach anyone in time to save Ella, save the heart, or stop the beam, but he can help afterwards. If a character he intends to help is dead, the next-highest will win.]
- Help Nathan.
- Help Ella.
- Help April.
(Winners: , , )
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@Story Notifications
Scene 77 (fixed the number)
April pulled back, one hand on the bracelet and the other drawing flames from her breath. Time moved at a crawl. The heart glittered in the air, inches from the Thing’s claws. Ella fell in slow motion, her face obscured from this angle. The very last silver beam crept towards the radio antenna.
She made her choice, and leapt upwards. Towards the crystal heart.
Nathan shouted, directing the agents towards the positions he and Lantoon had agreed would form the strongest field. Several ARS canisters were already spun up and active, having been turned on in the stairway while climbing. An invisible net of stabilized reality descended on the roof, stretching just far enough to ensnare April and the Thing but not quite covering the antenna as well.
Her fire went out, leaving behind nothing but a trickle of smoke that was quickly wafted away by the storm. The Thing crashed into the roof, unable to fly in the newly strengthened reality. The green crystal heart clinked to the floor and April snatched it up, backing away as the Thing howled and reached out for it, dozens of arms tearing at empty air.
Ella fell.
Agent Lantoon sprinted past Nathan, past the agents, past April and the Thing, and dropped to his knees at the edge of the roof, stretching out his arm as far as he could. As if, somehow, he could still reach.
She was gone. He hadn’t been fast enough. He could still see her plummeting towards the ground, maybe halfway down the building, but there was simply nothing he could do. Couldn’t reach her, couldn’t save her, couldn’t even listen to whatever last words she might have to say.
He watched her body slam into the pavement at the base of the building, only a hundred feet from the bus and the AIB agents who hadn’t gone in. Maybe someone there could still save her. Maybe, possibly. Unlikely. But he had to try. He toggled his radio and spoke calmly, giving orders as he always did.
April ran from the Thing as it roared and howled in near-animalistic rage, dragging its massive body along the ground with frightening speed even in the heightened reality of the ARS field. She felt so weak. Dizzy, uncoordinated, drained. Couldn’t move with the fluidity she always could. The field was affecting her beyond simply locking away her flames. Nathan was directing the agents to finish setting up the field. Lantoon was staring over the side of the building, one hand on his earpiece. The radio antenna was... oh no.
Spirals of distortion like heat waves rippled around the mast. The entire assembly glowed like a silver sun, then pulsed. The building shook. The sky trembled. Space itself seemed to reverberate.
April tripped.
It was as simple as that. She lost her balance as the roof shifted under her feet and crashed ungracefully to the ground. The Thing was on her a moment later, screeching and roaring and scrabbling for the crystal heart with dozens of grasping hands. She pulled it back against herself, trying to deny the Thing a grip. The heart still sparkled serenely, unfazed by the chaos around it.
She wouldn’t be able to keep it back much longer. Nathan was busy with the ARS cans. Lantoon was busy speaking to someone. The crystal heart certainly didn’t seem to be of any assistance.
- Nathan helps April. [Instead of helping finalize the ARS field.]
- Lantoon helps April. [Instead of trying to help Ella.]
- They both help April. [Instead of their respective tasks.]
- No one helps April. [This option is potentially deadly.]
...Where are Allie and Ami?
- Still on the bus, at the base of the Hane Corp building.
⏪ - Somewhere away from the chaos, safe.
(Winners: both tied! and were selected by digital coin flip)
- Nathan helps April. [Instead of helping finalize the ARS field.]
- Lantoon helps April. [Instead of trying to help Ella.]
- They both help April. [Instead of their respective tasks.]
- No one helps April. [This option is potentially deadly.]
...Where are Allie and Ami?
- Still on the bus, at the base of the Hane Corp building.
⏪ - Somewhere away from the chaos, safe.
(Winners: both tied! and were selected by digital coin flip)
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@Story Notifications
Scene 78
Only two canisters left now. Nathan ran past the second-to-last pair of agents as they set down their ARS device and started the activation sequence. The last agent struggled with his device, his partner nowhere to be seen. Nathan took some of the weight and helped shove the heavy canister into place, though he didn’t know the controls. The agent said something that couldn’t be heard over the storm, then turned it on.
The ARS field was complete and hummed gently over the majority of the roof. The radio antenna itself was tall enough to extend out of the field, but everything else was contained in the sphere of brutally-strengthened reality. Even Nathan felt a little different in the field, as if none of the magical but real events he had just witnessed could be possible anymore. A mild headache. A feeling of pressure. He spun around, turning to see what had happened with April and the Thing.
A minute earlier, Lantoon saw April fall and the Thing loom over her. “Get going. I’ll call you back,” he said into his earpiece, then ran over to help.
Lantoon was well-used to working in heightened reality fields and combating powerful monsters. He didn’t need fancy magic gadgets to do his job. Instead, he ran around the Thing’s side to where April was pinned, grabbed her by both arms, and simply hauled her out of its grip. Just as he had expected, the Thing’s physical form was weak and malleable in the ARS field, and its arms tore like jelly at the sudden pull. He dragged her out of its reach, then looked up to see the completed field snap into place.
April struggled to get up, only making it into a kneeling position before falling back down, clutching her head. The heart slipped out of her grasp and fell to the roof, its glow dull and almost extinguished. The Thing collapsed to the ground, unable to move under the crushing weight of manifold-compounded reality.
Lantoon dragged April backwards towards the edge of the field as Nathan ran over. “Get the heart!” he yelled. Nathan looked down, saw it, and scooped it up. Moments later, everyone stood just outside the field. The heart had fully recovered its shine and April was slowly regaining her strength - even that brief immersion in the full-strength ARS field had almost killed her. The Thing still lived, its mass partially collapsed but still clearly breathing in the center of the field.
“What now?” Nathan asked, gesturing. “How long can we just keep it here?”
“The canisters can run for about an hour before draining their batteries. We have some time. But you’re right, we need to do something about it and that radio mast before anything else happens.”
“So... can we kill it, or...?”
The Thing interrupted with a laugh, this time in Bolte’s voice again. “You’re too late!” he shouted. “Destroying this creature won’t stop what I have ACCOMPLISHED! OBSERVE!”
The radio mast exploded.
A beam of brilliant white light fountained up into the storm, tearing apart the clouds in a circular pattern. Tornadoes whiffed out near-instantly as the entire storm system seemed to lose its power. A curtain of silver light spread across the sky, washing over the clouds and leaving twinkling remnants behind. It didn’t stop at the bounds of the city, either, vanishing into the horizon with a distant rumble.
In seconds, it was over. Storm clouds began to break up, revealing the sunset behind. Tornadoes dispersed into eddies of air. Silver sparkles fell like snow, sinking into the ground wherever they landed.
Nathan stepped back into the field. “What did you do?” he demanded, stopping a few feet in front of the Thing’s head.
Bolte seemed to grin. “Exactly what I said, my boy. I accelerated our path towards the stars.”
Lantoon approached as well. April had to stay back, outside the field. “Care to elaborate?” the agent asked, his voice dangerously calm.
“You’ll figure it out soon enough. Your organization will, at least.” A pause as arms wiggled, trying to move. “Might as well finish the job, Agent. This field won’t last forever and I very much doubt you want to let this creature escape.”
Lantoon gripped a white metal spike in his right hand, about the size of a hammer. “Or you, Bolte.”
“Get it over with, then.” Bolte seemed content, cheerful even. “I’ve done what I needed to do. I elevated humanity. Can you say the same?”
Lantoon raised the spike. Nathan half-held out a hand. Something didn’t feel right here. April stood, conflicted, at the edge of the field. She didn’t say anything, but the green crystal heart vibrated in her grip, pulling towards the Thing.
...
Allie breathed out carefully. It hurt, but not terribly so. Movement was harder: her skin still burned with pain, as if she had dipped her entire body in acid. She struggled to piece her memory together before starting on the monumental task of determining where she was.
Ami, in the pit. The healing, then Bolte with the syringe. Blackness. That was it; she must have overextended herself, or maybe Bolte had? Was she still in the pit? What had happened with J-1? What was that noise?
It was a struggle, but she managed it. Allie cracked her eyes open, feeling tears leak out at the sensation. Someone immediately gasped and loomed over her, blocking the light. “Agent Ortiez, you’re awake! Are you okay? Can you move?”
Allie couldn’t even speak, let alone answer this person’s questions. She had to settle for a noncommittal blink, unable to communicate in any other way. Ow, blinking hurts too. That’s not fair.
Someone else pushed the other person out of the way. “Give her some space. Allie, you’re okay. You’re in the bus just outside the Hane Corp building. Your friend Ami is here too. She’s okay as well. You’re safe; it’s over.”
Allie calmed down a little. She had done it. Ami had lived. She blinked several more times, tears streaming down her face as she tried to motion to the outside.
“I - I’m sorry, I don’t quite... Can you not speak? Hang on, let me help.”
The AIB medic hooked up a greenish tube to a small metal rod, then passed the assembly over Allie’s mouth. The pain deadened a little and some of the strength returned to her facial muscles. She tried again after a sip of water. “Where’s Ella?”
The medic hesitated. Too long. Far too long.
“Tell me. Right now.”
“Agent Ortiez, I’m sorry but I have direct orders not to-”
“Tell me or I’m getting up and going myself.”
“This is exactly why we - would you stop moving?! You’re going to injure yourself further!”
[This is the penultimate branch point. The next scene will be the last one.]
- Lantoon uses the spike to kill the Thing.
- The green crystal heart does... something with the Thing.
- The AIB imprisons the Thing.
- They release the Thing. [Requires 80% agreement. Will go very poorly unless you understand the Truth. Explain in #story_discussion.]
- Someone tells Allie about Ella.
- Allie is forced to stay put until Lantoon and the others return.
- Allie tries to go find Ella herself.
(Winners: , / - tie)
- Lantoon uses the spike to kill the Thing.
- The green crystal heart does... something with the Thing.
- The AIB imprisons the Thing.
- They release the Thing. [Requires 80% agreement. Will go very poorly unless you understand the Truth. Explain in #story_discussion.]
- Someone tells Allie about Ella.
- Allie is forced to stay put until Lantoon and the others return.
- Allie tries to go find Ella herself.
(Winners: , / - tie)
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@Story Notifications
Scene 79 - Final Scene
“I’m not stopping. Out of my way.”
“Allie, please!”
“No!”
She couldn’t walk on her own, but Allie managed to make enough of a fuss that the medic gave up and supported her so she could move around. In exchange, she stopped wiggling so much, a relief to both of them. “You still need to rest; you shouldn’t be moving yet!”
“Get me outside.” There was a cold feeling in her chest. “Now.”
The medic tried one more time to make her stay put, then acquiesced and helped her to the door and down the steps. The movement was excruciating to the point where she kept blanking out for moments at a time, recovering after a few seconds and returning to reality with a start. Still, she wasn’t going to stop. There was a crowd of agents gathered around something maybe a hundred feet away. The medic looked at her. “Are you sure about this?”
“Bring me over there.”
They went. The last remnants of rain sprinkled around them before easing off and giving way to a brilliant summer sunset. The world felt different; more alive. Infused with a touch of magic. Little beads of silver sparkled in the air and amongst the debris, each one calling out to Allie and the lacre inside her. The city’s utter devastation contrasted with the calm peacefulness of the sky.
Agents gasped and muttered as Allie approached, some moving aside for her and others nodding sympathetically. The coldness in her chest became a tight knot of ice. No, no no no. Don’t look like that. Don’t do that. You can’t...
There was a human form covered in a sterile white sheet lying on a stretcher. A paramedic sat on the ground nearby, exhausted and with gloves coated in silver liquid. He looked up as Allie arrived and sadly shook his head. His mouth opened and words came out, but she hardly heard them.
The ice-cold knot in her chest broke apart and she knelt on the pile of shattered debris. She didn’t have to hear what the paramedic was saying. She knew.
The image of a green crystal heart floated behind her eyelids as she sobbed into the pavement. A temporary extension had been granted, not a resurrection. A few hours; one last part to play. But nothing more.
Allie reached out anyway, willing the healing lacre to her palm even though she had nothing left to give. It didn’t stir within her, and even if it had, there was nothing left to restore. She couldn’t bring back the dead. It just didn’t work that way.
Ella was gone.
And there was no getting her back.
...
“Wait!” April yelled. Nathan brought his hand back; he had been about to say the same thing.
Lantoon stopped, still holding the spike. “What?”
“The heart,” she said, holding it up. “It’s... it wants to do something with the Thing.”
“‘Something?’ That’s very vague.”
“Well, I don’t know! It just keeps pulling towards it, and it feels... angry, I think? Look, clearly Bolte is prepared for that spike, whatever it is, and he tried to destroy this heart so it must be an enemy. Enemy of my enemy, and so on? I think it wants to destroy it.”
Bolte swiveled the Thing’s eyes towards April. “The heart? If you insist; just get it over with. You only have so long.”
“I think we should use the heart,” Nathan agreed. “It saved Ella... actually where is she? What happened to her? I saw the Thing attack her, but everything was moving so fast...” He registered Lantoon’s expression. “Oh. Oh...”
“My apologies for that, by the way,” Bolte said from the floor. “This creature had such a strong reaction to that heart that I nearly lost control. You understand I never would have done such a thing myself, of course.”
“You tried to kill her literally a few hours ago! You tried to kill all of us a few hours ago!”
“Only as a last resort.”
Lantoon left the argument and approached the edge of the field. “Does the heart even work under this much reality?”
“You tell me.” April shrugged and passed it through the border, wincing and wringing her hand at the sensation. The heart’s glow immediately dimmed to near-nothing.
“No. It’s inert in here. To use it, we’d have to...”
“Turn off the field? That seems a little dangerous.”
“It’s a lot dangerous, and we’re not doing it. I’m using the sealing spike.”
Lantoon kept the heart and returned to the creature, retrieving the spike again. “Nathan, please step aside. I’m finishing this.”
“W-wait, Agent Lantoon. I really don’t think this is a good idea. He wants you to do that.”
A careful frown. Bolte smiled banally, at least as much as he could while inhabiting the Thing’s form.
“Lower the field by half,” he instructed, bringing the heart out again and handing it to Nathan. As agents carefully adjusted the canisters, light began to return to the heart as well as strength to the Thing’s limbs. It still couldn’t fly, but it could potentially move. “Nathan, stay back. Be careful, but be ready.”
“You are certainly making some interesting decisions today, Agent. You’ll be one to keep an eye on in the future.”
“There won’t be any future. Not for you. Nathan, do it.”
“But I don’t kn-”
The heart flared with brilliant green light and all twelve ARS canisters popped, leaking smoke as the field collapsed. The Thing rose to its full height, but before it could speak, fly, or attack, there was an all-consuming flash of heat and radiance. Fragments of some unknowable cosmic song pulsed for just an instant. A single second passed and nothing was left of the heart or the Thing but a scorch mark on the roof, a fading afterimage, and the quiet echoes of that distant cosmic melody.
[This is the last choice in the story and will only affect the epilogue.]
❤️ - Allie forgives April for her role in Ella’s death. Mostly.
- Allie does not forgive April for her role in Ella’s death.
(Winner: ❤️ )
- Allie does not forgive April for her role in Ella’s death.
(Winner: ❤️ )
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@Story Notifications
Epilogue
Several months later...
Allie briefly smiled at Buttercream as he jumped onto the couch and walked along her body to curl up by her neck. His rumbling purr started up as he nudged her hand, gently requesting pets. She complied, idly stroking his back as she stared out the window at the moon. Her smile dropped away.
It was early October now, and everything had changed. After the storm following Hane Corp’s reappearance in July, much of downtown had been annihilated. The AIB headquarters, Allie’s apartment building, and hundreds more historic or otherwise important structures had been destroyed beyond any hope of repair. Even from her new location on the outskirts near the airport, she could still hear unceasing construction from the city center.
Dozens of corporations had partnered with the federal, state, and municipal governments to assist in rebuilding efforts, together rebranding the entire city as “New Brighton.” To “leave the horror and destruction in the past and step forth into a new, brighter future,” as the mayor had put it. The name change was spectacularly unpopular and, for the moment at least, everyone still used the old name. Allie supposed that would change with time.
Tens of thousands of people had died in the storms and earthquakes. Even more perished afterwards while waiting for rescue as emergency personnel combed acres of debris for survivors. Allie hadn’t been a part of that operation - she had been airlifted to a hospital shortly after the storm broke apart - but Lantoon and many other AIB agents had. Seven agents had died to anomalous activity during search and rescue, and dozens more had sustained serious injuries. Lantoon himself had narrowly avoided death several times over that frenzied period, but he had made it out with no lasting damage. Allie, meanwhile, had been busy feeling like death while physically confined to her bed. No one had trusted her to not go running off again.
After the initial rush of search and rescue, there had been a second wave of crazy activity that she had participated in. Hundreds of anomalous objects and creatures popped up in New Brighton and its surroundings over several weeks, with Allie and the remaining AIB agents often working around the clock to track down and contain them before they could hurt anyone else. She had logged her sleep over the entire month of August out of a sense of morbid curiosity: she only clocked 83 hours over all 31 days. Even with her lacre-enhanced body, she still couldn’t operate for long on less than three hours of sleep a night. She had gotten tired and made mistakes. People had died because of it. Because of her.
Thankfully, things had quieted down by September. The regional director put Allie and many other top agents on paid leave for the entire month to recuperate. Lantoon had gone on vacation to Europe, his first one since she had met him. Allie stayed at home and tried to keep herself occupied. The bustle of constant missions had kept her from thinking about what had happened. From thinking about Ella.
And then she had a whole month with nothing to do but think.
Now it was October. Lantoon had come back a few days ago, but Allie had been ignoring all his messages. Ami, Nathan, and a few of her other friends had tried getting in touch as well, but she ignored them too. She hadn’t gone back to work yet. It had been a week since she had left the house.
Allie sighed again and tried not to cry. The funeral had been in September, just over two weeks ago now. She had given the eulogy but barely remembered what she had said, let alone anything else that had happened. She doubted she had talked to anyone in any detail. She vaguely remembered being mad that Lantoon couldn’t make it because the AIB had scheduled it after he had left. She had met some of Ella’s friends from Arizona and exchanged meaningless condolences. AIB higher-ups had given her fake smiles and faker words. Some senator had the gall to ask her for a favor - why had he even been there?!
She remembered now why she had chosen to forget that day.
Buttercream squeaked at her and Allie blinked out of her thoughts, again smiling at her cat. “My little precious boy,” she said aloud, mostly just to hear herself speak. It had been days, maybe. Her voice sounded weird. Buttercream headbutted her chin.
... It was still hard to believe Ella was gone. So suddenly, too, and Allie hadn’t been able to do anything. Hadn’t even been able to say goodbye. Their last conversation had been just outside the office building where Ella had convinced Allie to let her go in her place. Everything had cascaded from there: Allie had gotten captured, Ami had gotten captured, Bolte - fucking BOLTE - had gotten into Hane Corp. Ella had gone after him, and Ella had gotten herself killed.
The last thing Allie had ever said to her sister was “If you get yourself killed because of this, I’m not going to forgive you.”
That wasn’t true. She forgave Ella. She didn’t forgive herself.
The moon was pretty tonight. Clear skies, nearly full. Brightly shining into her living room and illuminating Buttercream’s coat with a silver glow. Silver, just like... Allie squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to think about it. She wondered how long it would take to be over this. If she’d ever be over it. If getting over it would mean betraying her sister’s memory.
Someone knocked on her door.
Buttercream jumped off her chest, making her yelp, and padded over to the door. Allie rolled over on the couch, debating the merits of getting up. After brief consideration, she stayed put. Maybe it was a delivery person and they’d go away after a while, leaving the package. A delivery person at 9pm? It COULD happen.
Another knock. Buttercream meowed at the door and looked pointedly at Allie. A gruff voice spoke through the wood. “I know you’re in there. I heard you yell as your cat jumped down. Come on, answer the door. I hear you haven’t been outside since the funeral.”
Had it been that long? She stayed quiet, tucking her knees up under her chin. Lantoon would go away eventually.
Yet another knock. “Allie. Get over here before I ask your cat to open the door for you. I bet he can; he’s smart enough.”
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the words. She stayed put.
“I’m prepared to stand in this hallway however long it takes for you to open up or for me to knock a hole in this door with my bare hand.” Another knock. “Make it easy on both of us.”
Allie got up and followed Buttercream’s example, padding over to the door on bare feet. She glanced down at herself, noticing she was wearing a nightgown and not much else. Not really presentable. Oh well, it was Lantoon. “I’m not in the mood.”
“There you are! I know; you haven’t been in the mood for anything in weeks, so I’ve heard. Just open up for thirty seconds and I’ll go away. Otherwise I’ll be here all night.”
“Thirty seconds?”
“You can count if you want.”
Allie relented and opened the door, holding Buttercream to stop him from darting out into the hallway. She squinted against the light.
Agent Lantoon stood in front of her in a smart suit and holding a covered wicker basket. He offered it to her, aiming for the hand that wasn’t occupied holding a cat. “Here. I tried sending you texts, emails, phone calls, you name it, but you never picked up. So you get the real, physical basket.”
She reluctantly grabbed the handle. “What is it?”
“An invitation. We’d all be very pleased if you decided to come. Maybe get you out of the house for more than thirty seconds.” He scratched Buttercream’s head. “Hey, little guy. Keeping her safe for us?”
“I’ll... think about it.” Allie backed up into the darkened apartment and pushed the door shut. Buttercream leapt to the floor and meowed at the door again. “... Thanks, Cam. I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”
“Don’t be; take your time. Just remember we’re all here for you. And if you decide to show up, we’ll be thrilled to see you.”
Allie quietly backed away from the door and stood in silence until she heard heavy boots departing. Then she flicked the kitchen lights on to the lowest setting and went through the basket before she lost the motivation to do so. Some baked goods, some jam, a few unusual European bits and bobs from Lantoon’s travels, and an invitation as promised. She read through. “Ami and Nathan are getting engaged? Wait, people have parties for that?” She thought it over. “I had no idea.”
...
“I’ll get it!” Ami called, walking quickly to the door and easing it open.
“H-hi.” Allie looked down shyly, wearing a sparkling black dress and a warm cardigan against the October chill. Clearly, she had made a considerable effort to dress up.
“You did decide to show up! Come on in!”
Ami led her through the house into the dining room, where Nathan and Lantoon were just finishing setting up the table. They both greeted her happily. No one else seemed to be here.
“Is this everyone?” Allie asked quietly as she was gestured to a seat. “I kind of expected... sorry, I-”
“Nope, this is it. Figured we’d keep things quiet now and save the big stuff for the actual wedding.” Ami leaned down to whisper conspiratorially. “Plus, we thought you might be a little more comfortable with just the three of us.”
“You did this for me? You didn’t have to...”
“Oh, can it, Ortiez. I’m just glad you showed up. Now, what’s for your drink?”
A few minutes later, Allie started to feel a little more comfortable to the point where she actually participated in the conversation. She had missed a lot, cutting herself off for an entire month, and there was a lot to catch up on. For instance, she had been vaguely aware that both Ami and Nathan had gotten positions in the AIB after their involvement in the Hane Corp incident, but didn’t really know the specifics. They were happy to share, however.
“I’ve been training to be a field agent like you and Lantoon,” Ami said. “There’s a lot of crazy procedures to learn; we’re currently going through how to respond to aerial threats without a firearm. There’s actually a lot more new recruits than you’d think, but I’ve got a bit of a head start on them.”
Lantoon nodded gravely. “There are more recruits than normal due to the expanded anomalous activity around the city. We need more agents to keep up with it.”
“Expanded?” Allie murmured. “You mean more than August?”
“Not quite that much, but it could get there before long. Nathan might have more information, actually.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I do. I’ve been working on part design for a project with the lamest codename: Sponge. But we’re actually trying to design big purification machines that can reverse lacre corruption in the ground.”
“Is that what’s causing the expanded activity? What caused the corruption?” Allie shook her head. “I’m so out of the loop.”
“That’s okay! But, do you remember back in July when Bolte sent out that white light that rained down silver particles across the entire continent?”
Flashback to the bus, the sunset, the sterile white sheet. “Yes,” she said in a tiny voice.
Nathan seemed to notice, winced, and tried to move on quickly. “Well, that did... something - we’re not sure yet - but something weird to the ground. It’s changing the soil in a very strange way, making it poisonous, slightly radioactive, and generally just terrible to live on, farm, or interact with in any way. And there’s a bunch of lacre distributed in it, which can bubble up and infect creatures and objects like you’re used to. It’s very bad news - if we can’t stop it in the next few decades, it’ll probably turn a big chunk of the country into dangerous wastelands.”
“But you’re hopeful your machines can stop it?”
“Reverse it, even. We’ve actually already designed a process that can extract the poison and leave normal soil behind; it’s just way too expensive and complicated to scale. But I bet we can make it work, given some time. We’ve only had a month so far, after all.”
“That’s good.” Allie stared down at the table. “Maybe I could help. I used to be a chemist before I got roped into fieldwork, actually. Plus, with my...” She flexed her hands, but didn’t call on the lacre. Using it now reminded her too much of the past. “You know.”
“There are already some tests you might be able to help with,” Nathan agreed. “We wrote up a few procedures that can only be done safely with lacre resistance like you have, but we’ve been waiting until you feel ready to come back.” He paused. “A lot of people miss you, you know. Not just for your abilities, but you.”
Lantoon nudged her shoulder. “I know I’ve been on vacation for a while, but ops just aren’t the same without you around.”
“I know, I know...” she mumbled. “I’m a disaster, I know. Sorry. I want to come back, but...” Allie trailed off, trying to think of a change of subject. “Uh, hey, what about the other people in Hane Corp? Did they all get recruited at the AIB too, or did we just give up on keeping secrets since an entire building just materialized downtown with no explanation?”
Nathan glanced at Ami. “Well, some of them joined up, but some of them didn’t. A lot of them who were only there for a few months could go back to their normal lives, and did.” He hesitated. “I don’t think there’s really any way to cover up the building. People know it happened; they have physical evidence.”
“I know you keep talking about Carlos,” Ami interjected. “He stayed around here.”
“Yeah, he did. I don’t think either of you knew him well, but he works in IT at the AIB now. I play a few online games with him. He’s doing pretty well, aside from, well...” A short pause, a careful glance at Allie. “He lost his brother in the Hane Corp incident. Killed by the bell-head on the bus.”
“The driver...” Allie remembered the man gesturing wildly at Ami, bleeding on the seat. The bell-head rising up several rows back, claws at the ready. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. He’s doing okay, at least. As okay as can be expected.”
“Hey, here’s someone you might remember,” Ami prompted. “You want to know what Eden’s up to these days?”
“Sure...” Eden had visited Allie several times during the hazy insanity of August, always accompanied by several guards. They had apologized profusely, begging Allie for anything they could do to make it up to her. She hadn’t come up with anything, but after a long talk about Eden’s childhood, motivations, and how Bolte had gotten them ensnared in his plots, she just couldn’t summon the energy to hate them. It had been one long deception built over years, just so Eden would help Bolte with that machine in the office building. She didn’t think they’d ever be friends, but at least they weren’t going to fight each other.
“Well, apparently they’re putting that knowledge Bolte gave them to work. There’s a lot of methods to integrate lacre and technology that we’re just scratching the surface of. I hear they’re a researcher working in that complex above the Factory entrance. We might start getting some new gear from them before too long.”
“Still under guard?”
“Still under watch. But mostly just to make sure Bolte isn’t able to do more mind control or whatever.” She glanced to the side. “No one really believes he’s actually gone.”
“I don’t either.” Allie kept staring at the table as if she could burn a hole in it. “What about April.” Flat voice, no rising inflection. Everyone else exchanged worried looks.
Lantoon dared to answer. “She went south. I believe she’s currently in Atlanta learning how to use her powers and decontaminating after using that VitaBand. She’s training to be an agent.”
“So I’m going to have to work with her.”
Ami jumped in. “Allie, have you ever talked to her after the... incident? Even once?”
“Yes. Once.” Allie remembered being stuck in the hospital, still in terrible pain as her body slowly healed after her reckless lacre overuse. April had walked in, unscathed. Lantoon had already explained everything that had happened on the roof, so she knew that the person in front of her had made the active, conscious choice to not save her sister’s life.
“I asked her why,” she murmured. “And you know what she said?”
An assortment of head shakes and “no”s.
“She said that she did what she had to do to save the world and everyone in it. That the heart was the only way to stop it. That she couldn’t have let the Thing get it. That the field would have stopped her from being able to help anyway.” Allie angrily rubbed her eyes to avoid crying onto the table. “You know what I heard? Excuses. You know what I didn’t hear? Not even once?”
Silence.
“‘I’m sorry.’ Or anything that sounded like maybe she was conflicted or upset or... or that she cared. At all.” A sniffle. “Nothing. And then she left, and I have never spoken to her since. I don’t want to, either.”
Ami hugged her. Allie let out a shuddery breath and wiped her eyes again. “I know it’s not her fault. I know that she had to make an impossible choice. I know the heart was important. I want to forgive her. She just made it really hard to.”
Several hours later, Allie walked down the darkened street alone. Well, not entirely alone; the AIB still had a detail of guards following her whenever she left the house. Whether that was a precaution against anyone attacking her, or against her running off and doing something stupid, was entirely a matter of opinion. Still, the guards kept their distance to the point where she could ignore them if she tried.
Allie had taken a short break to pull herself together, then the four of them had successfully finished dinner and even watched a movie before heading their separate ways for the night. Nothing complicated, and certainly nothing with any emotional plots. All of them - Allie especially - had more than had their fill of emotions today.
She had bid everyone goodnight, thanked them for the invitation, and agreed to let the director know that she wanted to come back to work. Talking about everything that had happened again had been tough, but now she felt a little lighter; a little less weighed down. Like maybe there would be a way to move past it. Like maybe life could be worthwhile again.
She looked up at the moon again.
Somehow, somewhere, she hoped Ella could see it too.
<3
Conclusion
Hey, thanks for playing! These last few scenes certainly weren’t easy to write, though I hope there’s enough there to get a sense of what happened to all the major characters. Is Bolte actually gone for good this time? The heck is the crystal heart, actually, and what did it do to the Thing? (In fact, those crystal hearts keep popping up in various stories all across the timeline; what’s up with them?) What’s going on with the lacre poisoning in the ground? Wastelands? That sounds familiar...
Anyway, I think with the end of HENRY, we reach the end of this chapter of the Kronwaë saga. I’m willing to confirm straight-out that The Factory is (obviously) the immediate prequel to HENRY, while Making a Difference concludes this era, the Factory Era. There are still some unanswered questions, of course, but there always are. At least most of our characters got... well, not happy endings exactly, but they got endings. They lived. Except Ella. I wonder if things could have gone differently...
So, what’s next?
As per usual, if there are questions / suggestions, or if you just want to discuss the story, I’m happy to chat. There are some questions that can’t be answered directly, but of course you’ll never know if you don’t try.
I’m considering starting to wrap things up here, as well. I’ve written a good chunk of the Kronwaë timeline already, and if voting readership keeps dropping at the current rate, I’ll only have any people left for another few stories anyway. I might just stop adding new prompts to the board and let things finish up after the next 3-4 stories. I’m not entirely sure yet, though, as I do like writing these regardless. You can let me know your thoughts if you have any.
In a few days, I’ll be archiving the current #story_updates channel and creating a new one for the next story. The new set of starting prompts will be up probably this weekend or next week sometime, after which we’ll get going on the next story as per usual.
As always, thanks for your continued support and engagement, and I hope you stick around for the next one! (Bring some friends with you, too)
~ Shaun / @Regional Manager Blah