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Absolute Discipline,
This is what The Evil Queen Rena had drilled into the minds of her soldiers from day one.
Any step out of line was punished severely, those who made it back from the fury of
Her Grace told stories of her overwhelming power.
The scars, however, told more of a tale than any campfire fable.
That was if you were lucky, most just disappeared, and once you crossed the Queen…
your days would be forever numbered.
Every minion knew to keep their head down, and to submit according to Her Graces will…
The Status Quo of the Queen’s rule was to be forever a house of cards held together by
fear and tyranny.
_______
The long halls of Her Graces castle were always kept in pristine condition, the marble of
the walls were to shine just as brightly as the Queen.
As hundreds of Minions filled the halls, all bowed towards the Queen… Her Grace
Everyone could hear it, the distinct walk of the Queen as her cane slammed down to the
pristine flooring below.
The sound was a warning to remain obedient and to kneel before her.
As two rows of parallel minions knelt along the path towards Her Graces chamber, they all
heard but one thing that broke the silence the, *Clank* *Clank* Clank*, of her ivory cane…
Its as if the world itself slowed in her omnipotent presence as the minions of The Rena
Army submitted themselves to the authority of Her Grace.
Clank Clank Clank
Clank Clank
She stopped, and none of the minions dared to take their eyes from the floor to meet hers…
Her soft footsteps strongly contrasted with the harsh slam of the cane as she
walked off to the side.
Ever minion knew what this meant… Something was wrong…
Many of the younger soldiers cowered at the thought of Her Grace addressing them, the
older ones knelt like statues, already seeing too many die the same way, accepting their fate.
She stopped again for a while, and an eerie silence overtook the halls of Rena Castle…
“You.” Her Grace Said.
A young soldier garbed in a self-sewn uniform slowly trembled their gaze upwards to meet
the commanding gaze of Her Grace.
The Queen chuckled as the young soldier locked eye contact with her as she pushed their
masked head upwards with her cane.
“Tell me your name soldier,” Rena commanded.
The small, masked soldier, trembling in his boots, slowly muttered a name, “S-Stitchy…”
“Stitches, eh?” The Queen said as she released her cane from the minions’ neck.
Having his throat liberated from Her Grace’s cane, Stitchy stumbled backward, and
saw as the stern glare of Her Grace pierced his very soul.
“Heh, you’ll be right.” The Queen snickered, slamming her cane on the floor with a loud,
THUD
As the Queen resumed her stride again that ever incessant clank of her cane
echoed, and Stitchy felt as if a weight was lifted off his chest as he started to breathe
easy as the fear subsided…
But even as the minions saw Her Grace exit to her quarters and even as the minions set
about their normal routines, Stitchy’s mind continued to wander as fear seeped its way
back into his psyche.
The Queen’s throne was always a dreadful place according to Stitchy, thinking nothing of
the cold and lifeless accommodation that Her Grace called her quarters…
As the patchwork soldier entered Her Grace’s quarters answering to his requested
attendance from him and him alone, as question like, “Why out of everyone does the Queen
need me?” tore up the mind of the young minion.
He did his work diligently didn’t he?
He always gave his all didn’t he, and never made any play to stick out from the crowd so
why him?
All these questions and more racked through Stitchy’s brain as he slowly made his way
to Her Grace.
The lifeless ballroom, the one where no party shall ever be held, was instead a showing of
the exquisiteness of Her Grace
Marble coated every wall like an ocean of white, as similarly colored pillars towered over
all.
The only bit of warmth that touched its frigidness was the scant red-colored lighting
coming from the stained glass that encompassed the surrounding walls, all donning the
likeness of Her Grace.
Finally, at the end the void expanse of marble and stone that made Her Grace’s throne an
enormous organ piano stretched across the ballroom where often, the Queen would spend
many hours of the day conducting and creating a symphony of music that could be heard
from many places within her surrounding domain.
But despite the flagrant performances, the Throne still would remain empty to anyone but
Her Grace.
For Maestro Queen would forevermore be inclined to be a performer with no audience.
Chills ran down Stitchy’s spine as he approached Her Grace, with her harmonic composition
ending abruptly at his presence.
Turning quickly to meet the treasonous reprobate that had interrupted her carefully
crafted serenade the Queen calmly smirked as she saw just the minion she was after.
Stitchy, the small hodgepodge of cloth crafts hiding behind a sturdy mask, was always a
curious one to her…
His lexicon and actions seemed as tangled as the mop they called hair, the complete
antithesis to Her Grace’s order.
But, for some reason, this one…
Despite all they had in contradiction, was most interesting to Her Grace.
Likewise, as he meekly stood before Her Grace, she could help but chuckle to herself.
“And curiouser still…” The Queen said under her breath.
“W-what was that my Queen?” The Masked minion asked.
Finding herself caught off guard by the recklessness of her words the Queen quickly
regained Her Disposition.
“Yes, Mr. Stitches… I might have use of you yet.” Her Grace said with bluster.
Completely disregarding the harsh reputation of the Queen, Stitchy suddenly broke
composure,
“Oh boy! That café job was always so boring! I’ll finally get to see some action!” Stitchy
yelled.
The Queen disguised her disgust at this blatant disregard for order in her very throne
room, an act which made the very walls shake!
Calming herself from Stitchy’s interruption the Queen slowly slumped downwards to come
eye-to-eye with her miniature minion.
“This mission will be very important, got that…” The Queen sternly said.
Stitchy nodded his head with vigor as the Queen rose back up and turned away from him.
“I need you to guard an especially important place in the castle, the door to Barracks 6-G,
do you think you can do that for me?” The Queen commanded.
“6-G, That’s by the Café! I always thought it was just a storage facility, I can’t wait to tell
my friends in the Café, we can still play together!” Stitchy rambled.
That last comment made Her Grace stumble as she moved back to her throne, quickly
moving uncomfortably close to Stitchy she calmly spouted, “You must tell no one of this.”
Stitchy fell backward as the Queen regained her composition, “Ahem, your mission is so
very important, we would not want a hero destroying anything this important, we
mustn’t let anyone in, or anything out, not even yourself…” she festered as she sat upon
her marble encrusted throne.
“Y-yes your Grace…” Stitchy sadly said as he rose to his feet and bowed his head.
“Hmm, Good… you may go now.” Her Grace said as she picked up her now cold tea.
“Oh, and remember this Mr. Stitches,” the Queen stopped the patchwork minion as they
turned to leave,” Snitches get Stitches… so leave this between us, as far as I’m concerned
this meeting never happened.” She chuckled while sipping her tea.
Stitchy nodded silently as they turned and sprinted out of the throne room.
________
Barracks 6-G was in such a stuffy part of the castle, a place where not much light
got in or out, but it was there where Stitchy now stood guard, outside the steel door of
Barracks 6-G as others rushed back and forth passed him, ignoring the young minion.
The soldier thought that it was very strange that no one seemed to go inside of 6-G but
he kept that to himself, along with most of his thoughts, as mental images of a furious
Rena flashed in his mind if he were to talk more about his job to protect…
His job to protect what exactly?
This question continued to cloud his mind as minutes turned into hours, hours into days,
and days into weeks as the boredom and his curiosity for the unknown ate away at him.
It was then that late one evening, an evening like many others, that the curiosity finally
got the better of the young soldier.
The minions of Castle Rena had already headed off to their bunks for the night leaving
the castle eerily vacant…
Stitchy had unknowingly dozed off during his daily protection of 6-G, only to stir awake as
a harsh clanking sound broke the blissful silence of the castle halls.
Awakening to such an unnatural sound had shaken the young minion as they looked down the
halls, trying to find the source of the clatter.
Much to his confusion, the halls were just as empty as they always were at this hour,
nevertheless, the metallic bangs still assaulted his senses…
Stitchy then looked back to the large metallic door of Barracks 6-G…
The door that towered over the short minion, the door that held something “so very
important” that not a soul was allowed in or out…
That very same door now taunted the patchwork soldier into investigating its mysterious
contents.
Stories of those who “betrayed” Her Grace’s will and her fury clouded his mind as he
approached the door, knowing very well the price for going against a direct order…
Any other minion would tell you it was suicide, but any common sense that the young soldier
might have had about his well-being where toss aside as the clank, that ever-present allure
of the unknown, continued.
Slowly grabbing the lever of the door Stitchy used all his strength to push it down,
and with a small burst of compressed air being released from the metal frame it
opened.
Stitchy quickly looked to his surroundings outside to see if anyone was watching before he
finally stepped inside of Barracks 6-G.
It was Cold… but it felt different from any normal chill in the air, it felt unnatural…
It felt… dead…
Even Stitchy’s blood ran cold as read the room around him…
It was all-metal, looking not a bit like the orderly cleanly kempt marble of Castle Rena.
For as far as the eye could peer… one could see boxes, rustic electronics with displays
that Stitchy couldn’t even begin to understand, and wires that stretched their tendrils
in complete disorder, supplying power to the entire Barrack.
Stitchy tried his best to navigate the complex paths of the eerie facility, but as he was
distracted by one of the many monitors dotting the walls within 6-G he accidentally
caught his leg on a wire!
Plummeting to the ground in a mass entanglement of wires Stitchy slowly and carefully
tried to get back up without disturbing any of the venerable technology that surrounded
him.
However, as he got up, he noticed a strange shadowy figure standing above him,
“EEK!”
The soldier shrieking, as he didn’t expect to find anything much less anyone back here, but
he quickly calmed down as the figure silently languished in front of him.
“It’s… a metal man?” Stitchy questioned as he poked around the deactivated robotic
device.
It had a strange monitor that made up the most of its chassis, with two equally sized
metal hands deactivated at its side.
Stitchy continued to investigate the automaton, however, during his search he might have
pressed a button that he probably shouldn’t have, causing the silver eyes of the mechanical
beast to shine as the mechanical monstrosity suddenly shifted awake!
Stitchy leaped back as the robotic being shambled around and uncannily moved before it
slumped to the ground, motionless.
He looked further down the chamber as a cold chill ran down his spine, noticing the
hundreds of identical robotic machines.
Shuddering imagining what these devices will, or might have been used for Stitchy quickly
tried to retrace his steps to make his way back out the same way he came in.
“I think I’ve seen enough…” he thought to himself
BANG
A loud crash abruptly broke the silence that enveloped 6-G up until now, causing Stitchy to
stumble backward over another cord!
Smashing his back into a box of old robotic hands, the patchwork soldier quickly jumped
back up and shook off the unnerved feeling that had gripped him.
“It’s that banging sound again…” The minion thought to himself.
Glancing towards the corner of the facility where the clanking was coming from, Stitchy
looked back to the giant metal door that would ensure that the Queen would never
discover his transgressions, and things would return to the way they always were…
No one had to know that he betrayed Her Grace’s command… but as he looked back to the
source of the clanking sound, he could feel the pull of something…
He had not even discovered what was making the clanking sound and besides his undying
curiosity to investigate the unknown… what if it was a danger to everyone in the castle,
including Her Grace!
He decided that any discipline from the Queen was worth a chance to save his friends
from the potential danger unraveling right under everyone’s noses!
Quickly dashing from the door Stitchy made his way carefully and silently towards the
source of the non-stop noise that filled the corridors of 6-G.
Moving several boxes aside to continue his advance Stitchy had finally made his way to the
source…
This part of the facility felt… undeniably bleaker than the other parts of 6-G, as Stitchy
tried to rub his gloved hands together in a vain attempt to find some warmth as they
looked to the perpetrator of the commotion.
Stitchy expression withered as he saw what was in front of him, giant
metal tubes…
As the patchwork soldier got closer the clanking from one of the tubes got louder and
louder causing him to put his hands over his head to find any hint of silence, to little avail.
Stitchy counted six separate tubes with the right-most tube being the culprit
behind the noise.
He also noticed that every tube had a big monitor at the very top and a little monitor off
to the side…
Creeping closer to one of the tubes he read aloud one of the displays up top…
“Project AQUA_PERAGRO/ DESIGNATION Q-20218120:6-G… Status, Inoperable…”
The air felt dense as a lump formed in the soldier’s throat as he tried to swallow his fear…
His mind raced for answers, Aqua Peragro…
What does it mean by inoperable, does Her Grace know of this?
He stepped forward again as his glance came to the nearby terminal…
Reading it aloud once again he scrolled through the contents of the screen, “DATA
CORRUPTED…” he continued to scroll through the tabs of the terminal and eventually
came across the only tab that hadn’t been lost; an audio recording titled…
“Behind Schedule…”
“Q has been a… disappointing misstep… Aqua Peragro must continue without… this
additional burden. Her schedule is always a precarious one, and we mustn’t disappoint…
for we never do.”
Feeling sickly as he turned away from the terminal, Stitchy fell to the ground as the
monitor supplied more questions than answers…
Are the things in these tubes alive… were they once alive… are they still…?
The questions kept coming, flooding back, and adding to the dread that was weighing the
young minion down and the constant banging in his head wasn’t helping!
“Constant banging?” Stitchy asked themselves as they slowly tilted their head to the lone
metal cylinder on his left…
Stitchy tried to choke down his fear as he shakenly came to his feet…
He had to discover what the origin of the banging was, even if this was once part of an order by Her Grace…
Inching along the minion looked over to the towering metal container, reading the monitor
above aloud yet again it said,
“Project AQUA_PERAGRO/ DESIGNATION T-22118:6-G… Status… Salvageable…”
Bang
Bang
Bang