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"... How did you...!?"
Rodger looked in shock at the sudden appearance of Toodles within the cold, industrial elevator. Toodles huffed at Rodger, glaring to the side. "You never let me come with you..."
"Toodles, that's because you can't come down here," Rodger replied, his prior shock transforming into worry. "I told you, this place is dangerous!" Toodles crossed her arms in response.
Rodger looked to the elevator door and sighed. If he's lucky, he could request to get the both of them back to the surface ASAP, but he's not sure how Dandy would react to such an event. Dandy is very persistent on the topic of collecting ichor.
Toodles, looking upon a contemplative Rodger, spoke up again. "I'm not scared of them or anything..." She sounded faintly unsure, but otherwise determined. Rodger looked back at her with a little bit of admiration. He guessed this was the consequence of raising a girl to find answers to all the questions she finds, but then again, it's this particular trait that they both share. Rodger wouldn't dare step even a foot into these floors if not for his yearn to know about the unknown.
Rodger sighed again, then knelt down to meet Toodles's height. "We don't have much of a choice, anyways..." As much as he enjoyed seeing Toodles's eyes gleam with excitement, he wanted her to stay completely out of danger. "But I want you to promise that, throughout the entire time, you will stay right next to me this entire time."
"Promise!" Toodles cheered.
"... Pinky promise?" As silly as it sounded, he needed further reassurance.
"Pinky promise!"
The door opened to the smell of mildew and rotten wood. Shelves and crates were scattered haphazardly around the familiar yet unorthodox location. On the few hanging sets of televisions, clips from the television series starring the toons played. Rodger was never sure how they kept playing.
"Neat!" Was all Toodles said in response. Rodger was, in all honesty, expecting more out of her first time down here, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. He simply urged Toodles to hold his hand and follow him. After a small amount of walking, they encounter their first machine in a small room.
"This is where we get the ichor," Rodger states, letting Toodles get a good look at the machine. The glass case seemed to be dirty, and the metal around it was rusted a little. "The wheel gets stuck when you turn it, sometimes... So I occasionally have to give it a good tug. If you're careful, you'll make no noise doing so." Rodger shrugged as he leaned down onto the wheel, turning it slowly but surely.
Toodles observed as the ichor began to flow into the machine from the tube above. The liquid looked thick and viscous as it slowly filled the case. The red wheel squeaked and wheezed as Rodger continued to turn it.
The footsteps outside were barely audible, But she heard them. She noticed that Rodger also reacted to the outside noise, bringing his work to a halt. "Toodles, stay close," he said sternly, pulling Toodles behind a set of boxes that were scattered nearby. "Don't make a peep."
As they hid, Toodles got a slight peek at the monster from behind the cover. The shade of blue was almost instantly recognizable as Poppy's head, but black ooze seemed to corrupt the figure into something she knew wasn't her friend. Toodles knew this was a twisted, mainly due to how Rodger had described them, but also because it simply felt wrong for it to be Poppy. This was not her, but a mockery of the courageous and excitable form that Toodles had admired.
The view was frightening... but as Rodger had requested, she forced herself to react quietly, gripping on Rodger's hand and feeling him tighten his grip alongside her. Eventually, "Poppy" left, leaving the two alone in the room, safe to exit hiding. Toodles stayed quiet, watching as Rodger hastily returned to work on the machine and filling it up at last.
"Alright... One down, three to go." Rodger wiped some condensation from his glass face, before urging Toodles to follow him once more. Toodles wanted to go home, but if what she's heard from him is true, they'll be here for a bit longer. As they returned to a more open space, they maneuvered around to avoid the sight of any twisted, staying close to boxes and shelves placed around. As they moved, Rodger noticed the lights flickering.
The floor covered itself in a blanket of darkness, snuffing out the light previously shed by the ceiling lamps. In mild panic, Rodger let go of Toodles to pull out his flashlight. "Please work, please work," Rodger repeated to himself, shaking the flashlight. Blackouts don't usually happen this early, as the higher floors are closest to the generators powering the labyrinthian building. Maybe the lights simply burnt out, or perhaps a twisted chewed out the wiring. Either way, the flashlight was now on.
And Toodles was nowhere to be seen.
Rodger cursed under his breath, quickly flashing around in hopes of finding the 8-ball. It seemed she also panicked in the sudden darkness and scurried off to wherever. The machines can wait. Finding Toodles was indisputable. Rodger sped up his walking and listened out for any noise that could even hint at Toodles's location. As much as he'd love to run, it'd only attract the attention of twisteds to him (or worse, both him and Toodles).
The thought alone of Toodles's demise down here horrified him. Would she be mauled by Poppy's doppelganger? Would she be infected by the ichor and succumb to it's effects? Would she pick up a false capsule placed by his own doppelganger and be slaughtered by her own caretaker? That last thought shook him to his core, but he pushed those thoughts back. They only served to instill fear and uncertainty to his thoughts and fog his thinking.
He heard Poppy.
Looking behind him, he noticed it shambling towards him, it's hands outstretched... And clean of any toon-based blood. It's mouth was agape as it chased him, ready to gnaw on his flesh with it's clean teeth. This Poppy's cleanliness shows that it hasn't seen any victims, which means Toodles had not been hurt by it. It served to give him hope, if nothing else, but it was a bit less nice of it to be chasing him down. After some quick thinking, he hid behind a box, watching as the Twisted ran the opposite direction of him. "No wonder it didn't harm anyone," Rodger joked to himself. He needed to keep himself at ease so that fear doesn't hinder his search.
Wandering more, he could faintly hear the sound of sobbing. He didn't hear her cry so hard since she had lost her plush dog in the museum above. Shelly had found it in the lost and found at that time, since Tisha had apparently found it on the floor and didn't know what else to do with it. She looked so happy when she reunited with it...
Pinpointing the noise, Rodger found it to be coming from a storage closet, filled with scattered papers and knocked shelves. Her sobs were hard for Rodger to hear mentally, but he was highly relieved she's alive. "Toodles!" Rodger quietly called out, listening as the sobs stifled a bit. Eventually, she peeked out from within a closet, her eyes stung and her face wet. "Hey, hey, it's alright."
Rodger came closer to the closet, extending his arms and encouraging Toodles to come towards him. When she left, she dashed into him, hugging him tightly and crying quietly into his shoulder. They embraced for a good moment, before Rodger eventually had to return to the matter's at hand, and the risk it held for both of them.
"We can't stay here much longer, kid." He stated, wiping a tear off of Toodles's cheek. "I've got a foolproof plan to keep us together..." With that, Rodger turned around and knelt, giving Toodles the time to get on his back and latch on. Rodger made sure she was securely holding on before he continued on the move.
A piggyback ride was honestly the last thing Rodger thought would be effective in these moments, but it kept them together for sure, and the extra height for Toodles meant she could watch for Poppy a bit easier with an eagle eye view. The other machines proved to be easy work for Rodger, and eventually they had to dash towards the elevator to safety and watch as the dangerous environment was shut off completely.
"Finally," Rodger huffed, exhausted. "I'm... Sorry you had to go through that, Toodles. It must've been difficult."
"... It was my fault," Toodles muttered, looking downtrodden as she held her hands together in front of her. Rodger paused, thinking for a moment. He'd be lying if he said that wasn't true, but the last thing he wanted to do was to antagonize her, especially after such a traumatizing experience. "All that matters is that you're safe," he finally said. "... Never scare me like that again, please."
Toodles nodded, and they hugged again, a bit longer this time without the danger of the Twisteds looming over.
"... That place smelled bad, anyways."
"Yes it does."