Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Awakening once again, to bright lights and on an uncomfortable table, the Player awakes after another failed run. They don’t remember how many times this has happened. ████ times? █ ████████? Does it matter at this point? Same song, same dance. New body, same mind.

“Welcome back EXR-P,” says the Urbanshade agent, “Seems you have failed, again.”

“How far did I get this time?” asks the Player.

“Room 83,” answers the agent, “Congratulations! You beat your record of 81!”

The Player went quiet. Progress, but that doesn’t mean a lot compared to how many times they have gone through this.

They immediately got up and were already heading towards the door.

“Woah! Slow down there tiger!” The agent blocks the door quickly. “Mr. Shade has some news to share with you.”

The Player is very concerned. Has Mr. Shade decided they weren’t usable anymore? Was this the day they were to be ████████ of? Even still, they had no choice, but to sit back on the table.

The agent brought out a recorder. Of course, Mr. Shade isn’t gonna show himself in person. The recording started:

“EXR-P, we cannot thank you enough for the progress you have allowed us to make. Before you, the EXR-E’s were never able to get past room 37, but you have allowed us to make it up to room 81.”

“However, as much as we appreciate this accomplishment, you have been having some setbacks and your progress to go farther is rather slow. We need to secure the crystal as soon as we can.”

“We have decided to add a new factor this next run.”

The Player was already frightened and upset. So they are going to ███████ them?

“We are sending another eight people. You are still one of them. However, we have found an individual that may help you push further: EXR-R.”

The Player sighed in relief. They were still being used. However, it still worried them about another individual. Did they make another Player?

“We expect to see this run make progress or, in the best case scenario, secure the crystal. However, this is your last chance. If we see no improvement or see decrease in progress, then we will replace you.”

The Player went pale.

“Do not let us down. The future of Urbanshade and Scientific Discovery is in your hands.”

The recording stopped. They sat in silence for a bit before asking the agent:

“Why didn’t he tell me the name of this ‘individual’? Shouldn’t I know the name?”

The agent just shrugged. “Classified information.”

The Player sighed.

“So, what do you plan to do this time ██████?” The agent asked.

“Just try to get these idiots farther and find out who this new EXR-R is, especially if I got to get them to improve in one run,” explained the Player.

“Are you going to reveal who you really are? Maybe your real name, instead of the fake name ██████?” The agent seemed to be the inquisitive one.

“Nah, better to make them think I’m normal like them. Also, I’m thinking about retiring that name for a new one.” Responds EXR-P.

The agent raised an eyebrow. “And what new name are you going to use?”

Player smiled.

“You’ll find out in the report”

Randall █ Purpura has been convicted of the crimes of ██████ in the █████ degree: The ██████ of ███████ and ████████ Purpura. He was caught attempting to ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███████ and was taken to the nearest hospital, █████████ Hospital. He was not convicted on the spot due to his injuries. It wasn’t until he was seen outside of hospital, reported by ██████████ █████, that it was found out he had gotten better and was released from the hospital, ███ ████ since the ███████ had happened. He was swiftly apprehended and was finally convicted. However, his attitude seemed to change. He went from anxious ████████ to two changing attitudes: one cold and creepy, and the other with a god complex.

██████████ has served the Life Sentence

Tate Frost, after over a ██████ of his ████████, has been convicted on the █████ degree of ██████ in all states. It is suspected that his ███████ █████ started in his home state, █████████, with the murder of his highschool sweetheart, ███████ █████. It is believed it was an accident in rage, but he didn’t stop. He would use his charisma to convince his victims to trust him, both male and female. He would have ███████████ with his victims, then show his true colors by tying them up. He took days to ███████ and ██████ them for his ████████. When he would finally ███████ of them, the bodies would be found missing ██████████ and it is believe he would save them to ███████ later. He was finally caught in ██████████.

██████████ has served the Death Penalty

Their crimes and sentences are irrelevant

Today, three men from the Urbanshade Corporation, being escorted by heavily armed guards, arrived at the prison. They were searching for draftees to help them receive a crystal of sorts, a highly important asset that they were unable to secure during a major security breach in one of the facilities. They stated the risk of death was high, but whoever could receive the asset and return it to them, would be pardoned, released with a clear record and receive ███████ in cash.

Many fellow inmates signed up.

“Randall” and Tate signed up as well

They Are

EXPENDABLE

Chapter Text

Randall was completely lost on what was happening. It was like he had been half-asleep for days, weeks, maybe even months, and everything from when he was arrested to now was a giant, blurry spot in his memory. And what was even worse: He is now in a small space, in the deep depths of an ocean, from what little he gathered, with 7 other people he did not know! What a way to spike his anxiety!

A few months ago, Randall █. Purpura had just gotten released from his ████-long stay at █████████ Hospital. And not even an ████ later, he was arrested by the police! The doctors’ had told him he was in “serious trouble” and that was why he was forced to stay at the hospital, but they never told him what he did, nor had the police told him. But he was still convicted and given a life sentence. The time after is where it got fuzzy for him. It had almost been like he was a passenger in his own body, but he was in the trunk. Sometimes, he could see outside through a little crack of the old trunk door, when it got bumpy, due to the old and worn latch. 

He slightly remembered about signing up to do something to help an organization? He swore that he wouldn’t have done something that stupid, and even thought that much at the time. Especially, since he also swore they said there was a risk of death. He would rather not die just to get out of prison.

And yet, here he is.

On top of that, the people around him looked more physically capable of this than he was. Randall was a scrawny little man, who was only ██ years old. With pale skin like milk, possibly due to his Korean side, eyes like amber, and a long pointy nose, the only thing that made him look a little bit of a threat was his naturally sharp teeth. At least, the prison allowed him to cut his hair from the long strands it was, when he was finally released from the hospital, to a more comfortable medium. You could almost mistake him for a girl, if it wasn’t for the little hairs on his face that could be barely called facial hair. He was given a light purple jumpsuit for the mission. Luckily, it was baggy enough to hide how ███████████ he actually looked. Unfortunately, unlike his blue striped sweater, the sleeves weren’t too long, which he actually found discomfort in, as if he didn’t want to look at his hands at all. At least Urbanshade was nice enough to offer gloves, although all fingerless, which he picked the purplish-blue ones.

The submarine had been filled with silence since they had embarked. How long has it been? ██ ███████? An ████? There wasn’t a clock, so nobody could be sure. One thing everyone was sure about: They were strangers and didn’t fully trust each other. All of them were different from each other. Despite how urgent and tough this mission was, it wasn’t a submarine filled with big, strong men with tattoos up their necks, like you would expect from people from prison. There were 4 men, including Randall, and 4 women, making a total of 8 people in the submarine.

One woman, with slightly darker skin, possibly Hispanic in ethnicity, stood leaning against the wall. Her dark brown, wavy hair was long, but quite thick. She looked pretty young, possibly around Randall’s age, and had dark brown eyes, along with big, yellowish-orange, rounded glasses. Her jumpsuit was mostly black with dusty pink accents, no gloves. She had her head leaned back against the wall and was staring at the ceiling. She seemed to be troubled by something on her mind. 

One man, who was white, was sitting on the ground. He had short reddish-brown hair. He looked a little older than Randall, but not that much. He had dark blue eyes and a little bit of facial hair on his chin. His jumpsuit was mostly black with orange accents, no gloves. He was looking down, one hand propping his head up under his chin, and seemed to be mindlessly thinking to relieve his boredom.

Another girl, who was also white, was sitting against the wall. Her hair was similar to the Hispanic woman, except with darker blonde hair and a cowlick, similar in shape to a heart almost. She looked to be the same age as Randall and had yellow eyes, vibrant to look at, and big, pinkish-purple, rounded glasses. But there were obvious bags under her eyes, possibly from tiredness. Her jumpsuit was mostly a deep, dark purple with many shades of pink thrown in, with dark purple and magenta gloves. She had her legs out in front of her and was swaying her feet from side to side.

Another man, almost as white as Randall, was leaning against the wall. His ginger hair was buzz cut on both sides and the hair in the middle was slicked back. His gray hairs, which seemed to be a new development, suggested he was older than Randall, probably already in his 30s, and he had emerald green eyes, along with an old scar across his nose. He had some facial hair, but he definitely doesn’t have good growth on it. His jumpsuit was mostly orange with dusty yellow accents, with black and orange gloves. He was staring down to the ground, arms crossed, and tapping his foot, almost like he was getting impatient.

The last two women were talking to each other, both white, and seemed like the only two on board to know each other. They both had thick, black hair, one in a ponytail and one free with a bun on top. The one with the bun had tired, black eyes with dark blue, rounded glasses, while the other one had crimson red eyes, almost like she was a demon in disguise, and a strangely shaped red mark on right cheek. It looked like a little tattoo of sorts right below her eye. They looked to be around the same age to each other, but older than Randall. The woman with the ponytail had a jumpsuit that was red with black baggy pants and dark scarf, along with gloves in similar colors, while the other wore a jumpsuit that was mostly a sky blue with golden-yellow accents, no gloves. They both stayed near each other and just talked to themselves, sometimes glancing at Randall and the others, and seemed to be speaking in another language, maybe Russian?

And then there was the last man, who looked to be the oldest there, with tan skin. Unlike everyone else on board, he was big, not just in height, but he obviously had the muscles. He had long, curly, brown hair, which he kept tied in a ponytail, and already had white making up almost half the color. He had these deep violet eyes, bags of tiredness under them, the right eyebrow had a slit, a small scar on his bottom lip, and had a gap between his front teeth, but he had some nice canines. He mostly had facial hair on his chin and sides of his face. His jumpsuit was a dark and forest green, but unlike the others, he had his sleeves rolled up, which revealed more scars on his arms and his tattoo on the left forearm, worn ace cards with a banner wrapped around them that said “LUCKY”, and his jacket was unzipped, revealing the white tank top that everyone was given, he had brown gloves. He was sitting down, his head was leaned against his arms, crossed behind his head against the wall, and eyes closed, either relaxing or asleep.

Out of everyone here, the last guy was the only one who looked like he was qualified to be on this dangerous mission. Randall was sitting down, against the wall, and had his knees to his chest in an attempt to ground himself. His nerves were getting to him, and it wasn’t helping that he was sitting close to the hot, big man.

There was still awkward silence for a bit more, when it was finally broken:

“Gah! Can this thing go faster?!” Exclaimed the ginger-haired man, his voice gruff and with a German accent. “This is boring!”

The people lost in thought, including Randall, were brought back to reality, the two women stopped talking, and the big man opened his eyes, a little annoyed that his relaxation was interrupted. Seems the man had finally lost his patience in the silence.

“What’s got you in a rush?” Asked the blue-eyed man, his voice sounding close to a ██████. “Do you want to get to our potential doom faster?”

“What I want is to get this over with,” responded the ginger-haired man. He proceeded to bang on the door of the submarine. “Hey! Can you drive faster?!”

The blonde woman started to say, her voice monotone: “I don’t think you should–”

Suddenly, a ████-███ popped out of the ceiling of the submarine and pointed towards the ginger-haired man.

“Violence Detected,” said some robotic female voice, “Please Cease At Once Or I Will Deploy █████████ Protocol.”

The man, in fear, stepped away from the door with his hands up. The ████-███ receded back into the ceiling. The big man snorted, thinking the whole thing was funny. The ginger-haired man went back to leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed, and pouting like a child. 

“W-What was that?” Randall asked, his voice shaky.

“I believe that was the Navi system they mentioned before we got on,” explained the blue-eyed man, “and I believe they mentioned it was also the AI piloting the sub.” He looked at the ginger-haired man as he said that. He just grumbled rude words.

Silence returned, but with a new tension in the air after the whole ███-from-the-ceiling thing. Then, it was once again broken:

“So…” The Hispanic woman started to speak, her voice soft and sweet. “How about we get to know each other then? I mean, we are going to have to work together, no?”

The ginger-haired man snorted. “Yeah right, lady, I am in it for myself!”

“It seems you keep forgetting the risk of danger here,” said the blonde woman, “also, we all get what we want in the end, if we survive: our freedom…And the money is nice too.”

Silence once again.

“The name’s Daniel,” responded the blue-eyed man, “Daniel Johnson. Uh…should I have to state my crime?”

“████████ nein! I am not saying mine!” exclaimed the ginger-haired man.

“It’s probably for the best if we keep those a secret for now,” responded the blonde woman, “we might have some biases against a person if we do.”

“Well, how about a fun fact instead?” Asked Daniel. “I used to do drag racing before I got locked up! That wasn’t my crime, by the way.”

“Fun facts work!” Responded the Hispanic woman. “My name is Alise. Alise Rodriguez. I liked to bake for my family! I also did it to help with stress, hehe.”

“My name is—”

“The names Augustus! Augustus Fischer! But you can call me Guss! And that’s with two S’s!” Interjected Augustus, formerly known as ginger-haired man. “And I have had ███ with ████ ████!”

“...We did not need to know that,” said the blonde woman, “anyway, like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted: My name is Gracelynn. Gracelynn Young. But you can just call me Grace. And…I have a twin sister.”

There was silence for a moment, before Augustus said, “So, what are you two pretty ladies' names?~”

He spoke to the two women, who had been ignoring the others and kept talking, and they both turned to him and stared daggers at him. Obviously, they did not appreciate how he called them “pretty ladies” in that flirtatious tone.

“Uh, pay him no mind,” said Daniel, “we just think it would help if everyone gets to know each other. So…Uh…It would be nice if you, at least, could share your names, please?”

The lady with the bun just stared daggers, generally at everyone, and, obviously, did not want to say anything. However, after a few minutes of silence, the lady with the ponytail stepped forward:

“I’m Dee,” her voice was sharp with a Russian accent, “and this is Vee.” She motioned towards the lady with the bun. “And a fun fact is we are childhood friends and partners in crime.”

Vee didn’t seem like she was happy that Dee shared their names, but did finally respond, in a cold voice with a Russian accent, “Sup.”

“What is your real name?” Asked Guss.

“We don’t have to tell you that,” responded Vee quickly.

“Oh that is bull████! We all gave our real names! That is not—”

“It’s fine if these women don’t wanna tell us their full names,” said the big man, his voice deep and gruff, but gentle, with a strong southern accent.

“And who do you think you are speaking to me like that?” Asked Guss, angrily.

“Wonderful question. The name’s Tate. Tate Frost. An’ I guess a fun fact about me is that I have a hobby for axe throwin’.”

He scoffed. “Bet you are a lousy shot…”

Tate squinted his eyes at Guss. “Fun fact number 2: I used to gamble a lot, so I have a knack for sniffin’ out liars.” He smirked. “An’ yer ‘fun fact’ wasn’t really a fact…”

Guss was fuming at that comment.

“That was kinda obvious,” added Grace, “I mean, this guy with the literal Queen of ████'█'████ would never—”

“You! Shut up!” Guss shouted at Grace, then turned back to Tate. “Are you trying to pick a fight with me, ██████?!”

Surprisingly, he seemed to ignore that comment and said, “Well, I would’ve already knocked yer lights out by now, but I don’t feel like gettin’ up. Also, I don’t think the AI doohickey would appreciate that very much.”

Guss opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself because he was right. He did NOT want to be held at ███ point again.

It went quiet again. Randall thought to himself. At least now he knew everyone’s name, especially the handsome man beside—

“So, what’s yer name, darlin’?~”

Randall lifted his head up at the sound of Tate’s voice, only to realize he was talking directly to him. His deep violet eyes staring at him, waiting for his response.

“H-huh? M-me?” Randall stammered out in response, face already getting red from fluster.

“You are the last one who hasn’t told us your name,” added Daniel.

“O-oh! Y-yeah…You’re right. I-it’s, uh, R-Randall. Randall P-Purpura. I…Forgot my fun fact…I-I don’t think I have one, actually.”

“Well, nice to meetcha Randy~” Tate responded.

“U-uh, I don't particularly like that n-nickname. J-Just call me Randall, please.”

“Alright, Randall Please~”

Randall felt like his head was going to explode. His face got redder. 

“Oh mein ██████████ Gott! Why is this ███████ even here!” Exclaimed Guss.

“H-huh?”

“Why did you even sign up for this, String-Bean?”

“S-String-Bean…?” Randall mumbled to himself, confused on why that was the insult he decided to use. Then, he responded: “U-Um, I d-don’t actually know—”

“‘Uh! Uh!’ Gott, your stutter is annoying! Listen, Randy, you should have left your ██████ ███ back at your prison cell! This mission is not for ██████!”

“I-I said I don’t like being called that—”

“What the ████ is your problem dude?!” Daniel interjected, seemingly triggered by the ██████████ slur. “Who cares if he’s gay!”

“Who cares?!” He yelled back. “We should not have to protect a fifth person during this mission!”

“Fifth person?” Asked Grace, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, of course! Us men have to protect you gorgeous women!~ And we do not need some sorry excuse for a man to be as weak as a woman!”

Dee and Vee both glared at him like they were going to kill him, Alise acted to be suddenly interested in her feet, and Grace sneered, which revealed she also had canines, but not as prominent as Tate’s. Obviously, the women did not take kindly to his insinuation that women were weak and needed a man’s, or multiple men’s, protection.  

“Ya best hold yer tongue with those comments, buddy,” replied Tate with a hint of malice in his voice, obviously done with this guy’s blatant disrespect, “I happen to have met some of the damndest an’ toughest women walkin’ this damn planet. An’ one of them was mah mama.”

Guss started to respond, “ooo~ looks like the big guy is a Mama’s boy—”

“OKAY!” Alise loudly interrupted, clapping her hands together, uncomfortable and fearful of where this was heading. “How about we talk about something else! Or sit in silence! Either one works, as long as there is no chance of violence until we arrive! Besides, I’m sure we are almost—”

All of a sudden, The female AI voice, known as Navi, announced: “Arriving In Hadal Blacksite In T-Minus One Minute.”

Thank god, doubted anyone wanted to be in this cramped submarine any longer than they had to now.

Chapter Text

“Why do you have your jacket unzipped?” Alise asked Tate as they stepped onto the dock. “Is that not dangerous?”

“Eh, they din’t have mah exact size. It fits, but barely. I’d rather be able to actually breathe than feel like I’m slowly suffocatin’. An’ before you mention the sleeves, I just like mah sleeves shorter than these █████’ things.” He responded. “But don’t worry, Sha, I’ll zip it up an’ roll mah sleeves up if we are around anything hazardous or go underwater~”

“Ah…what is a ‘Sha’? Does that mean ‘sheep’?”

“Naw, it’s Cajun! It means ‘Sweetheart’ or ‘Darlin’’ or ‘Dear’ down in █████████! I usually call anyone who is cute ‘Sha’~”

She blushed a little. “O-Oh, that’s nice…I did not know Cajun was a language—”

“Come on ██████!” Shouted Guss. “You should not be slowing down Miss Habanero!”

Tate looks annoyed and struggles to not say some strong choice of words. “Ya know, I think I could knock him out, now that we’re out of sight of that Navi thingamajig, an’ we can make the rest of the journey a quieter one.”

“He’d probably slow us down, with one of us having to carry him,” interjected Daniel, “and there is still the risk of death. He will most likely be a corpse if we leave him.”

“Good! Kill two birds with one stone! Get peace an’ quiet, an’ another little prick off the planet!”

“As much as I agree with you, he is a nuisance, we might have better chances the more of us are alive.”

Tate sighs. “Welp, I’ll just hope by mah luck that he dies first.” He simpered.

Randall was the last to get off. Once he was on the dock, the door to the submarine shut quickly and immediately dove back underwater.

“Hey! Where the ████ is the sub going?!” Exclaimed Guss. “That is our way back home!”

“Maybe it’ll come back once the mission is over?” Suggested Grace.

Well, with their only way back home now gone, it seems like there is truly no backing out now. Suddenly, an intercom comes on and starts speaking:

“As discussed during your briefing, your primary objective is to secure and bring back the Crystal.”

“Hey man! Where the ████ did the sub go?!” Shouted Guss.

“I do not think he can hear us,” responded Dee, “hopefully this isn’t all he has to say because we already know why we are here.”

“Your secondary objective is to secure as many loose assets as possible.”

“What the ████ does he mean ‘loose assets’?” Asked Tate.

“I think he means this?” Responded Alise, holding a document with an undeveloped photo attached to the front with a paperclip that was on a nearby table. “I remember hearing something about getting a bonus award for bring it back—”

“Yeah, that looks valuable! I should hold on to it!” Proclaimed Guss.

“Yeah, right, like you gave us a █████’ reason to trust ya.” Tate responded, sarcastically.

“You've been equipped with a diving tank, allowing you to navigate any potentially flooded areas.”

“Do you think your mask can fit ya, ██████?~” Guss smugly asked Tate.

“Can ya shut the ████ up?!” He yelled in response. “If ya don’t have sumthin’ useful to say, then keep yer damn comments to yerself!”

“You've also been equipped with a Crystal container, used for securing the crystal if, er, when, you reach it.”

“Well, isn’t that encouraging,” Daniel sarcastically says, “and what Crystal container? I didn’t get one.”

“I have it,” answered Grace, “They gave it to me before we entered.”

“Maybe I should hold it so you do not have to carry the extra weight, baby?~” Guss flirtatiously suggested.

“...” She sped-walked behind Tate. “Do not touch me, you weirdo.”

“Weirdo?!”

Tate chuckled. He seemed to take a liking to Grace’s personality. “Dontcha worry, Sweetheart, I won’t let ‘em touch a single hair on yer pretty little head~” He promised, playfully.

Guss just grumbled. Grace rolled her eyes, as if she was disinterested in the obvious flirting.

“You have permission to use any additional equipment you may find.”

“H-Hopefully a flashlight,” suggested Randall, “W-We might encounter dark rooms, a-and we don’t k-know what dangers could hide in the d-dark.”

“Ya scared of the dark, Bunny?” Asked Tate. “Dontcha worry, I’ll protect ya from any monsters lurking in the shadows~”

Randall was red again. “O-Oh, u-uh, t-thank you…” He seemed to kinda like being called “Bunny”.

Guss did the pointed finger towards the open mouth with tongue sticking out expression. Daniel elbowed him.

“Our Navi-Path AI has marked the shortest route possible to your primary objective.”

“Good! The quicker we get this done and get out of here!” Exclaimed Guss.

“It should be noted that you'll mostly be left on your own, as we are currently busy managing multiple teams.”

“So, we are not the only ones here?” Asked Alise.

“Duh, we were not the only ones who signed up,” answered Vee, “there were more than eight people that signed up.”

“Well, that will not be necessary,” said Guss, proudly, “because we are going to be the first and only team to make it!”

“We will tune in from time to time, if it matters at the moment.”

“I-I would have liked it if they just gave us a button to c-contact them when we n-need them,” lamented Randall.

“Nah, I, er, we can do it by ourselves!” Proclaimed Guss. “Especially since you all have me here!”

Everyone deadpanned at him.

“Open the door, and proceed when ready."

The intercom shut off with a quick, loud static.

“I’m guessing that’s the door?” Daniel asked, pointing to the door with the sign labeled “1” and a keycard reader.

“Okay, but where is the keycard?” Asked Alise.

“Over there,” Vee said nonchalantly, pointing to a table past some storage boxes, which has a convenient hole for someone to crawl through.

“I can get it!” Proclaimed Guss, and he crawled through the hole.

He got through just fine and retrieved the keycard. He held it up and showed it off, as if he was in a video game and just obtained an item from a chest. He crawled back over and swiped the card in the reader. The door opened to a room with some more lockers, some tables, with and without drawers, cabinets, and a door at the end with the sign labeled “2”.

“This will be easy! That was, what, ein room out of zwanzig down? I mean, 1 out of 20 down—” 

“100,” corrected Vee.

“Gotcha! 1 out of—huh?!” He looked flabbergasted. “Was zum ██████?! What do you mean einhundert?!”

“They said that the only possible shortest route, of which there were multiple, that they could find was 100 rooms long,” said Dee, backing up Vee’s claim. 

“█████████ Hölle!” He seemed a little frustrated. “This is gonna take forever!”

“That’s the price we get for our freedom,” commented Daniel.

“Well, at least we can loot the place while we are at it!” Suggested Guss.

“W-Wait! D-Didn’t they say w-we are at risk of d-dying?” Asked Randall. “W-We probably should do this as q-quick as possible then!”

He sighed. “Listen Randy, there is no danger! They only said that to make us rush! And why would they want to rush us? Because they do not want to loot the place, that is why! We have plenty of time!”

“I-I don’t know. E-Even the guy on the intercom seemed to think we’ll d-die. A-And please don’t call me Randy—”

“See, String-Bean, that’s exactly what they want you to think! It is all manipulation to think this place is dangerous! But we are gonna be smarter than that!” Guss proceeded into the next room.

Randall felt defeated. “I don’t even know which is worse: Getting called Randy or getting called String-Bean.”

“Both, but the other one he said back in the sub was way worse,” responded Daniel, “just ignore him. If he is so sure there are no dangers, then let him mess around and find out!”

He was right, there was no way to stop Guss’s recklessness. Without anything else for them to do, they proceeded into the next room.

Guss was already looking in drawers, grabbing the ‘loose assets’ mentioned before, and checking the big lockers. However, it seemed like every locker was empty.

“You know, those lockers look like good hiding spots, if something tries to attack us,” mentioned Alise.

Guss rolled his eyes. “I told ya already, Miss Habanero, there are no dangers! It is a lie!” He smirked. “But if you are feeling scared, you could always stick by me, prinzessin~”

“I think I am good, thank you,” she said in English before switching to Spanish: “Además, no quiero que ningún asqueroso me proteja.”

“And besides, I doubt the redneck could fit in any of the lockers anyway! He’d be toast!”

“I don’t wanna say it, but he might be right,” responded Tate, “hopefully, I could fit if I need to, but if I can’t, then I’ll just fight like ████.”

Luckily, the next door did not have a keycard reader. They continued through the next room, and then the one after it. But something was off in the 5th room. The room looked normal, but there seemed to be a presence with them. If there was something, it was hiding well.

“I-I’m not the only one who feels watched, r-right?” Asked Randall.

“Yeah, you’re not, I sense it too,” responded Dee. 

“Guys, come on!” Exclaimed Guss. “You are letting them win!”

He put his hands on one of the locker doors, but that’s when Randall noticed it. There was something in the locker…something with big glowing purple eyes peeking out of the vent.

He immediately tried to warn him: “W-Wait! There’s something in the—”

“Stop being so paranoid String-Be—”

As soon as he opened the locker, there was only some type of black mass looking at him with its bright eyes. And then, in an instance, tentacles wrapped around Guss and pulled him into the locker. The doors closed on him.

“What the ████?!” Exclaimed Daniel.

“It just ate him!” Added Grace. Seems she was capable of emotions.

However, there was suddenly banging on the locker. They could hear Guss trying to scream out for help, but it was muffled.

“Боже мой! He is still alive?!” Commented Dee.

“Welp,” said Tate, “told ya he was gonna get what he deserved!”

“W-We should probably help him!” Suggested Alise.

“Why?” He asked. “He’s been nothin’ but a pain in the ███!”

“That may be true,” said Grace, “but we need to work together!”

Tate rolled his eyes at first. He did NOT want to help the ███hole. But Grace crossed her arms and glared at him. He tried his best not to crack a smile at her attempt of intimidation. 

He sighed, “Fine, I’ll get him out.”

Tate went to the locker and opened it. He grabbed Guss, but the tentacles were hanging on. The creature did not want to let go of its prey. Finally, with one good tug, he managed to pull him out, both falling to the floor. The locker doors shut, the monster grumbling in dissatisfaction.

“Ow!” Tate sat up. “Damn! That critter was stubborn as ████! Luckily, I’m stubborn as ████ too!” He stood up and looked down at Guss, who was still laying on the floor, looking bewildered as he was trying to process what the ████ just happened, with what looked like ████ ████ marks through his jumpsuit and on his skin. Tate actually looked concerned for the man. “Ya good, buddy?”

At first, Guss was still too stunned to speak. But his expression slowly turned to fearful anger. “Was zum ██████ war das?!”

“Uh, can ya translate that in English?”

Guss quickly sat up, then he looked at Randall. “You!”

“M-Me?” Asked Randall.

“Why the ████ did you not warn me?!” He was pissed.

“H-Huh? I-I tried! B-But you didn’t l-listen—”

“bull████! You stupid ██████! I will ███████ kill you!”

He tried to quickly get up and lunge at Randall. He put his hands up, covering his face, braced for the attack, but then:

“Was zum ██████? Let go of me, ██████!”

He slowly put his hands down to see Tate had grabbed Guss and was holding him in the air.

“Oh no ya don’t!” He shouted. “Yer not putting the blame for yer own stupidity on someone else!”

“Let me go! It is the ████████ fault! Let me—”

Tate turned around and started heading back towards the locker, the purple eyes of the monster still watching what was happening through the locker’s vent.

“W-What are you doing?”

“Puttin’ ya back back in the locker,” he said nonchalantly, “maybe the monster will kill ya this time.”

Guss’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh ████████ nein! Do not dare put me back in! Get me away from that thing!”

Tate stopped right in front of the locker and twisted Guss around to face him. 

“Then ya better listen closely, bucko,” he stated, a growl prominent in his voice, “We came ‘ere as a team. We will continue as a team. An’ we will make it out as a team.” 

“Wolves live in a pack. They hunt in a pack. They eat in a pack. An’ they sleep in a pack. They work the best as a team. But when one pup steps out of line…”

Tate brought Guss up to his face and looked him square in the eyes. His violet eyes now had a dangerous malice to them, seemingly suggesting that Tate was more than what he made himself out to be. 

“...the leader needs to put ‘em back into their place. An’ if that doesn’t work, they kick ‘em out of the pack, leaving ‘em to defend for themselves. Because a defiant pup in their pack is ultimately their weakest chain.”

Tate squinted his eyes and bared his canines. Guss was trembling.

“So, are ya gonna continue bein’ the defiant pup? Or are ya gonna get back in line?”

“Because I am at mah limit with ya. I only pulled ya out because the others wanted to rescue ya. I would have left ya to die, if it were up to me. Because ever since we got on that sub, ya’ve been an annoying ███████ this entire ███████ time! The insults towards me are one thing, I have thick skin. But ya have been a ██████, ██████, an’ ██████████ ███████ to almost everyone here! An’ ya just proved that yer our weakest link!”

“But I’m a nice guy. I’ll give ya one more chance. Either, learn to behave yerself for the rest of the time we spend together. Or, I will feed ya to that monster in the locker mahself.”

“Do I make mahself clear?”

Guss darted his eyes away from Tate, but he shook him.

“DO I MAKE MAHSELF CLEAR?!” 

Guss looked like a dog who had just got kicked by a boot. Like a puppy that got chewed out by the mother dog. He frantically nodded his head: “C-Crystal!”

Tate paused for a moment, then he started to grin. His grin wasn’t normal. It was deranged, and so was his eyes. Was he drooling? He seemed to enjoy the fear coming off of Guss.

“...Good…~”

Tate dropped him on the ground, Guss immediately scrambling back up and cowering behind the group. The group was speechless. Until then, they thought this big man was just a caring, loveable guy. But when he lost his temper, he became this terrifying beast right before their eyes. The only one who seemed to have a slightly different opinion was Randall, who seemed to have also found it scary, but also kinda hot.

Tate had his back to the group. The locker monster seemed disappointed in his decision. Tate took a deep breath, held it for about a minute, then sighed. “God █████’ dammit…”

He sounded almost disappointed in himself? Like, he regretted losing his cool like that. He wiped his mouth, took another quick deep breath, and quickly exhaled. He then, finally, looked back at the group. He looked back to normal, albeit with a more awkward look. 

“Uh, sorry ‘bout that…I din’t mean to lose my temper like that…”

He looked genuinely remorseful about what happened. But the truth is, one of them was bound to finally snap at Guss.

“It’s fine, dude. Someone had to address the issue. I would have eventually done the same,” said Daniel.

They continued onwards. Guss stayed farther behind the group, specifically away from Tate. He slowly went back to his old self, but he wasn’t going first nor checking the lockers.

Grace asked, “Are you still gonna check the lock—”

“And get trapped again?!” Responded, Guss, loudly. “███████, nein!”

“I think the lockers are safe as long as you don’t see the purple eyes—”

“Nein! I’m not taking the chance!”

She just shrugged, but she hid a sly smirk.

They continued to walk from one room to the next, grabbing ‘loose assets’ as they went. They still didn’t know why it was so important to collect. Sure, the documents were important, which all looked similar to the one Alise picked up at the start, but there were these vials, sometimes either blue, red, orange and yellow, or pink and white, that had what seemed to be an object in the form of a double helix, like DNA, inside. There were also these stick things that they have never seen before, but looked like they would connect to a computer. 

In one room, Guss was behind Dee as they walked. He looked down and smirked. Then, he commented:

“You know, you have a nice ███, Hase~”

“Excuse me?” She asked, obviously not too pleased by the comment.

“What? I am just saying, I would not be surprised if you used to be a ████ before all this~ Maybe even the reason why your here in the the first place—”

Before Dee could turn around and knock his teeth in, Vee, who was walking in front of her, grabbed her and placed Dee in front of her, effectively putting Vee between her and Guss.

“Hey! What do you think you—”

“She is not your █████, you Извращенец!” Shouted Vee.

Guss was about to say something, but Tate, obviously hearing the commotion, looked back at him. His look obviously said: “are you sure you want to continue with that statement?” He shut his mouth and mumbled to himself in German.

Finally, they made it to room 10. Other than the locker monster, everything seemed to be going well. They did find out some rooms had side rooms, which had more ‘loose assets’, also known as data, that didn’t seem noteworthy. However, they did find a flashlight, thank god. Daniel was the designated flashlight man, since he was the one who found it, until they could stumble upon some more. But the lockers were troubling. Every single one of them, when they didn’t have a purple eyed black mass inside, was empty, and perfect size for them to hide in. Something didn’t add up.

“T-This has seemed t-too easy,” commented Randall, “W-We know there is some type of danger here, but i-it can’t just be the m-monster in the lockers. W-We can avoid those!”

“Yeah, I think yer right,” agreed Tate, “Sumthin’s gonna happen. I can feel it.”

“Well, I say we enjoy it for now,” suggested Daniel, “as soon as we start to acknowledge the current difficulty, something is gonna happen.” With that said, he stepped into room 11.

But as soon as he did, something new happened.

The lights flickered .

“U-Uh, faulty wiring?” Randall asked.

“Of course it is!” Responded Guss. “Makes sense for an abandoned—”

“Shh! Do you hear that?” Vee asked.

At first, it was silent. Then, they heard it. A noise getting steadily louder, from behind them.

“Something’s coming,” stated Grace.

Something was, indeed, heading towards them. And it was coming fast !

“W-We need to hide!” Exclaimed Alise. 

“Where the ████ do we hide?!” Asked Guss.

“T-The lockers!” Suggested Randall. “T-The lockers are b-big enough for us to h-hide in!”

“Warte was?! Nein! I’m not going—”

But there was no time to listen to his objection. Everyone rushed into a locker, ones from the current room and the room before that. Their previous hypothesis was right. Everyone could fit in the locker, even Tate managed to position himself to fit in one. 

Everyone was in a locker…

…Everyone, except Guss.

Alise was the first to notice: “Guss! ¡¿qué estás haciendo?! Get in a locker, quick!”

“████████ nein! I am not getting in that death trap again!”

The sound was getting louder. It sounded like a raging animal, but not like any they could have known. 

“Guss, dude! You’re gonna die if you don’t hide right now!” Shouted Daniel.

They were all right, he was going to die if he stayed out. But their pleas fell on deaf ears. They always do.

“Nein! Who does this beast think he is?! I will just fight it and ████ it!”

“Are you stupid?!” Yelled Dee.

“Nein, you ████! I will not let some animal scare me!”

“Okay, Guss, buddy,” Tate said, sounding cramped and uncomfortable, “if yer thinkin’ this is, hmph, h-how ya █████’ show yer b-better than me, then it’s, urg, i-it’s not worth it—”

“Shut up, ██████! I will show you who is—W-What?”

Guss interrupted himself. He finally saw the thing that was heading towards him, due to the doors not automatically closing behind them. His confidence instantly dissipates, being replaced by a new feeling. 

Terror .

“Was zum ██████?! Is that a fisch?! How?! I—”

He didn’t get to finish speaking. Nor will he ever get the chance to. The sound had come, along with Guss’s screams. But his screams were drowned out by the deafening roar of the monster. Some of them covered their ears and shut their eyes tight. The roar continued for a good moment. But as quickly as it came, it passed by them, its roar getting slowly softer and softer, until it finally ceased.

All they could hear was nothing .

“Guss?” Alise finally broke the silence. “Are you there?”

Silence.

“Hey, are my eyes still closed?” Asked Daniel. “I can’t see anything.”

The ones that closed their eyes realized they were no longer closed. The once lit room had now become dark.

“I-Is it safe to c-come out now?” Asked Randall.

“I have no idea,” responded Dee.

“Well,” Tate said, “I’m █████’ gettin’ out of this damn thing! I can hardly bre—OOF!”

After the sound of a locker opening, they heard a thud, presumably made by Tate falling out.

“Tate!” Shouted Grace, sounding concerned. “You alright?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just fell on mah face like an idiot.” There was silence for a beat, and then: “God damn! It’s █████’ dark as ████ in here!”

Since Tate was able to leave his locker without dying, everyone slowly left their lockers, one by one. He was right, it was pitch black in the room, including in the rooms before them.

“Hold on,” said Daniel, “Let me get that flashlight!”

The sound of him fumbling with the flashlight, trying to find the on/off switch, could be heard, before there was suddenly a light beam in room 11.

“Aha!” Daniel proudly exclaimed. “Now, where did you—Oh! Pfft, you alright there buddy? Hah!”

His giggles echoed through the rooms. Grace, Daniel, and Tate had hid in the lockers inside room 11, while Randall, Alise, Vee, and Dee had hid in room 10. But they could still see, thanks to Daniel’s flashlight’s beam, that Tate indeed had, comedically, fallen forward when trying to exit his locker, and was now laying on the ground.

He was not amused: “Yeah, yeah, laugh all ya want!” He slowly got up with a grunt, and then put his hands on his hips. “But at least I was able to prove to the little ██████ that I can fit, damn it!” He looked proud of himself for being right. 

Grace had already gotten beside Daniel, snickering a little to herself, as she found delight in Tate’s little proud pose and smile. Alise, Dee, Vee, and Randall started to make their way towards them.

“Speaking of that ‘little ██████’,” said Dee, “where did he go? Did the monster just take him?”

“Good question,” stated Daniel, as he moved his beam to the door of room 12, which had been forcibly opened by the entity, along with the room after too.

“M-Maybe he will be fine?” Alise suggested hopefully, trying to think positive. “I-I am sure we will find him eventu—”

“Gah!” Randall yelped, as he almost slipped and fell. “W-Where did this puddle of water come from?!”

“I don’t know, let me put the light on—HOLY ████!!!”

Daniel dropped his light as soon as the beam had hit whatever was in front of Randall. It was too quick to see exactly what it was he was screaming about. Luckily, as the flashlight rolled on the ground, it conveniently stopped with its beam on the object, almost like they were in a horror movie.

Randall, unfortunately, did not, in fact, step in a puddle of water.

It was a puddle of █████.

A puddle of █████ coming from Guss’s ██████ .

Chapter Text

Guss’s Document

EXR-E-726 - Real Name: Augustus Fischer, Nickname: Guss, is a ██ year old Caucasian male, whose family immigrated from Europe, Germany. He grew up being able to speak both German and English fluently. His father, █████████ Fischer, was an █████████ and had ██████ Augustus as a child, along with his older brothers, ████ and █████ Fischer, and their mother, █████████ Fischer.

He would become an █████████, like his father and brothers, and would get into many ███ ██████. He has been arrested █ times for ██████████ ███████ with a █████ and █ times for Public ████████████.

On ███ ██, 1996, Augustus was caught by Mrs. █████ ██████ trying to break into their house through their daughter’s window, █████ ██████, who was only ██ years old when she started to be stalked by Augustus. He was arrested for Attempted Break-In, Stalking, ████████ █ █████, and Attempted Kidnapping. He was only sentenced for ██ years by the state of ███████.

Augustus signed up for Urbanshade’s Hadal Blacksite Expedition. The reason he gave was that he wanted to be released sooner, but the true probable reason may be because ██████████ don’t usually survive prison. It was already reported that another inmate at the ███████ █████ Prison had attacked Augustus with a █████ in an attempt to ████ ███ ████, because the inmate claimed “People like him deserve █████”. This has left a scar on Augustus’s face.

Recommendation: Despite how high he seems to hold himself, he is not intelligent nor physically capable to survive the Hadal Blacksite. If he were to be put with a group, he is more likely to be the first to get █████████. However, that might be a death suited for a █████████ like him. Maybe his group can use him as cannon fodder, if they can keep him alive past room 20. Whether he is accepted to go through an expedition with a group or stay in prison to rot, he is as good as dead.

Mr. Shade’s Final Decision: Augustus “Guss” Fischer will be put in The Player’s team.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Y'know, I was kinda jokin’ when I said I hoped he died first,” said Tate.

Some of them looked away from the body, including Randall. Who could blame them? Guss may have been an ███████ and they only knew him for 10 rooms, but his sudden end was a shock. Especially such a gruesome end as his.

His body was ███████ and disfigured. His face left frozen in terror from what he had apparently seen. Unlike ████ ████ marks the monster in the locker gave him, he had big ██████ across his chest, his leg was ██████ ████ ███ ████, and literal ██████ ██ ███ were missing. It was like a bunch of piranhas had a █████ ██ ███ ███████. 

Suddenly, the seriousness of the mission had become more apparent. Guss was wrong. Urbanshade didn’t lie. There was danger here and there was a chance that they could all die. Guss was the undeniable proof.

“Ugh…I-I can’t believe I-I stepped in the █████,” groaned Randall, obviously feeling sick from what he saw. 

“What do we do?!” Asked Grace, sounding more concerned than terrified. “He’s dead! And we will most likely be next!”

“N-Now let's not panic!” Stated Daniel. “If we panic, things will be a lot worse!”

“He is right,” agreed Vee, “we cannot let this stop us. Our best chance to survive is to keep moving forward.”

“B-But what if that thing shows up again?!” Asked Alise.

“We know we need to hide in the lockers!” Answered Dee. “It seems the flickering is an indication that it will come! So when the lights flicker, that is when we hide!”

“Either way, standin’ around is not gettin’ us anywhere,” stated Tate, “we gotta keep movin’.”

“B-But what about Guss?” Asked Randall. “A-Are we just gonna l-leave him here?”

“Unfortunately, Bunny, carryin’ his ██████ will just slow us down. As much as we may hate it, we have to leave ‘em.”

“Yeah,” agreed Grace, “the best we can do is remember him.”

She picked up the flashlight and pointed it towards the door labeled 12.

“Damn, that monster really did blow the lights out. Luckily, I don’t think it blew all of them. I think I see a room lit up down there.” She hands the flashlight back to Daniel.

“Now, I don’t know much German,” he said as he grabbed the flashlight, “but did Guss call the monster a ‘fisch’? Was he saying fish?”

“I think so,” answered Alise.

“Now, hold on,” said Tate, “are you implyin’ that he was killed by a damn fish? How would that even be possible? Fish can’t walk on land nor even breathe.”

“A normal fish cannot,” agreed Vee, “but have you seen a fish monster before?”

“N-No, I don’t think a-anyone has,” said Randall, “b-but I’d rather not after what happened to Guss.”

“Agreed,” stated Daniel, “so let's move forward before we do.”

They continued into the next room. Luckily, Daniel’s light helped them get through and even stopped to get some data. They went into the next room.

“Hey,” said Alise, “the dark is not so bad! The next room has light, so we will be able to see aga—GAH!”

Something moved near her. There was even a small white glow of some kind that went away as soon as she backed away from it.

“Hey!” shouted Daniel. “Leave her alone!”

He pointed the light where the white glow was. As soon as the light hit it, its outline glowed once again. It was pure black. It didn't have arms, but had tentacles replacing where its legs should have been. The outline of its face glowed and it was creepy. It let out a low growl of agitation.

“What the?! Is that a squid? What is up with—”

It suddenly lunged at Daniel’s face with a screech. He dropped his flashlight and screamed. 

“Holy ████!” Exclaimed Tate. 

Alise grabbed the flashlight quickly and shone it at Daniel. But the squid monster had already vanished. He was sitting on the ground dazed. 

“¡ay dios mío!” Exclaimed Alise. “Are you alright, Estimado?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” answered Daniel, “It just scared me—ow!”

He looked down at his shoulder. The squid had left a small ████ on his arm. 

“Damn, looks like it got ya pretty good,” stated Tate.

“Eh, it's just a scratch. I’ll live!”

Alise noticed something move again in the dark. She shined the light on it and there was another squid monster. Its face started glowing, but it had a different terrifying face. The low growl started again.

“Turn the flashlight off!” Shouted Dee.

Although startled, she shut the flashlight off. As soon as she did, the monster stopped glowing and stopped growling.

“I-I guess it gets a-aggressive when light is shined o-on it,” observed Randall.

“Y-Yeah, I guess so,” agreed Daniel, looking at his █████.

“Let’s get out of here then,” suggested Grace, “the door is right there and there is light. Seems like they won’t follow us there.”

Everyone seemed to agree. They all quickly got into the next room and into its light. Alise gave Daniel the flashlight back.

“So, I’m guessin’ all monsters ‘ere are sea critters,” concluded Tate.

“Not just any sea creatures,” corrected Dee, “ones that look like they are from ██.”

“Yeah, whatever ya just said. They look like abominations.”

“That must be why the place was put on lockdown,” stated Vee, “Urbanshade’s experiments broke free.”

“E-Experiments?” asked Randall.

“Makes sense with all this science-like stuff around,” added Dee. Although, she sounded upset as she said that. As if she was angered by the thought of Urbanshade conducting experiments.

This didn’t seem to sit well with Randall either, but he didn’t know exactly why.

They all looked around the room, collecting as much data they could. Then, they entered room 15.

“I don’t like how long the hallway is,” stated Grace.

“Naw, it’s just a long hallway,” said Tate, “besides, if sumthin’ comes we got the lockers to hide in!”

They picked up the data and got to the door.

Tate was standing at the door, but it wasn’t automatically opening. Strange. Usually you just had to get close to them and they would open on their own.

“Huh, the door must be busted.”

He grabbed the edge of the door and tried to pry it open. If anyone could open them, Tate seemed the most likely candidate. But even with his strength, he couldn’t open it.

He huffed, “Damn, that █████ really doesn't wanna open.”

“M-Maybe it needs a keycard?” suggested Randall. “L-Like the first door?”

“I don’t see a card reader on this thing.”

Suddenly, the door back to room 14 shut. Then, the distinct sound of the door locking could be heard.

“What the?!” Exclaimed Daniel.

They were stuck in the room, but it didn’t seem like any accident.

Tate banged on the door. “Hey! This isn’t █████’ funny! Let us—”

Then, the sign went dark.

“That’s strange,” stated Dee, “did you break it?”

“I din’t mean to!”

Suddenly, the sign came back on. But it was just a pure white screen.

“I-I don’t like this,” stated Randall.

Suddenly, something popped up on the screen. Two scribble-like circles appeared. Then, a wide U-shape scribble appeared under them. A face had appeared.

And then it’s mouth moved as it spoke:

“ Hello!!!~ ”

“WHAT THE ████?!” Exclaimed Tate.

“ Hey! That’s A Naughty Word! You Should Wash Your Mouth With Soap! ” 

It laughed. It seemed capable of emotions.

“I-Is that thing speaking to us?” Asked Daniel.

“ Ouch! You’re Hurting My Feelings! I’m Not Simply A ‘Thing’!!! ”

“W-What are you?” Asked Alise.

“ Isn’t It Obvious? I’m A Computer! The Smartest Computer In This Facility, In Fact! ”

“‘S-Smartest computer in this f-facility’?” Repeated Randall.

“ Uh, duh, that’s what I literally just said. ”

“Well, whatever ya are,” started Tate, “can ya please open the damn door?!”

“ Wow! Demanding me to open the door already? I Just Wanted A Good Look At Y’all! ”

It went silent for a good moment, darting its “eyes” over each and everyone of them.

“ ...alright, that’s enough looking. So, You All Are Here To Get The Crystal, Correct? ”

“You know that?” asked Alise.

“ Of Course I Know That! In Fact, I Was Watching Y’all This Entire Time! By the way, Alise, Cajun is just another version of the southern dialect. You Can Even Think Of It As One Of The Flavours Of The South! ”

Randall started to ask: “H-How did you know her—”

“ ‘How’d I Know Her Name’? It’s Simple, Randall! I Am A Super Computer With Access To All Urbanshade Knowledge! I Know Everything About Every EXR-E’s! ”

“Well, that isn’t at all creepy,” Daniel said, sarcastically.

“W-Wait! A-Are you saying you’re connected t-to the whole facility?” Asked Randall.

“ Bingo! Bullseye! Right On The Money! ”

“T-Then, y-you can help us!”

“ Help you? ” One of its circle eyes shrunk, as if it was confused.

“Y-Yes! W-We can get to the crystal faster, if you help us!”

If this seemingly sentient AI had control of the whole facility, then they could try to ally with it and get to the crystal faster! It was a risk, but the AI seemed friendly enough, so it was worth a try!

“ Hmmmmm… ”

The computer hummed. Then, it hummed again. Then, again. All in different tones and pitches. Kept doing this for a good moment, until finally:

“ Well…I CoOoOuUuUuld Help You… ”

Randall’s eyes lit up. This might actually wo—

“ BuUuUuUut! Where’s The Fun In That?! ”

And then that hope was immediately extinguished.

“B-But, d-don’t you work with Urbansh—”

“ WORK WITH URBANSHADE?!?!” The AI seemed offended by the assumption. “AFTER WHAT THEY DID?!?! HAH!!! Don’t make me laugh kid… ”

The tone in voice was kinda jarring. It was like he was a different person altogether when it happened. Friendly, then not. Loud, then cold. It was like it couldn’t even make up its own mind what personality it had.

“ Listen pal…as much as I would lLlLoOoOvVvVeEeE to help y’all out…It’s More Fun Seeing You STRUGGLE!!! I Almost Fried A Chip LAUGHING When That Pathetic Piece Of ████ Died! ”

“Okay! I heard enough!” Tate had lost his patience. “Now, open the goddamn door!”

“ Only If You Say Please!~ ”

“I doubt he’s going to open the door if we do that,” guessed Daniel, "he didn't open the door when you said 'please' earlier."

“ You Don’t Know That~ ”

“OPEN THE █████' DOOR!!!” Yelled Tate.

Just as the AI was about to taunt again, it froze for a moment, its expression neutral. Then, it slowly grew a wicked smile on its face.

“. ..Alright…I’ll let you go… ”

“█████’ finally! Now we can—”

“ But~ I have game for us to play before I let you go~ ”

“A-A game?” Asked Alise.

“ It’s a little game I call…THE GAUNTLET!!! ”

The AI plays a “dun, dun, duuuun” sound cue.

“What is this Gauntlet?” Asked Vee.

“ It’s Simple Really! I’ll Open The Door In 15 Seconds! During That Time, You Must Survive! ”

“Survive?” Asked Grace. “Survive what exact—”

Suddenly, a low loud grumble could be heard. Seems like that was the answer to Grace’s question.

“W-What was that…?” Randall nervously asked.

“ Alright My Amigos!~ I Would Like You To Meet My Special F R I E N D!~ ”

As if on cue, the big window in the room was overcast by something huge. It looked to be a big bull shark. It positioned itself to be only visible by its side, but its big, sharp-toothed smile could be visible at its front. 

“ Good Luck!~ ”

All of a sudden, as soon as the AI’s counter started, the beast opened its many, huge eyes, which covered almost its entire body, and covered the entire room in a bright green glow. 

All they could feel is pain.

This pain wasn’t normal. It was almost like a bad migraine, only it felt so much worse. It was like the beast was ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████.

Despite the incredible pain, someone spoke out: “Look away! Don’t look it in the eyes, no matter how magnetizing it is!”

Luckily, everyone was able to listen and do exactly what that voice said.

“WHAT THE ████ IS THAT THING?!” Shouted Tate.

“I-I don’t know!” Exclaimed Daniel. “But it’s so hard not to look! It really does feel like a magnet pulling our eyes towards it!”

They could hear the AI Cackling with delight. It seemed to enjoy their pain.

“We can make it through!” Stated Vee. “We only have 10 more seconds left!”

“M-Maybe some of us can get in the lockers?!” Asked Alise.

“ THAT’S COWARD’S WAY OUT!!! ” protested the AI. “ You Think You Can Hide This Out?! ”

“Can you shut the ████ up?!” Shouted Tate.

“Do not pay attention to him!” Stated Dee. “He is just trying to distract us and make us lose focus!”

“We have 5 seconds left!” Exclaimed Grace.

“I-I don’t think I c-can stay like this much l-longer!” Cried Randall.

Just give in to me.

4 more seconds.

That was not one of their voices.

It would be so much easier.  

3 more seconds.

It’s at this moment they realize the voice wasn’t coming from the outside.

I can make all the pain go away.

2 more seconds.

The voice they heard was of the bull shark.

Aren’t you tired of the same song and dance?

1 more second.

It was coming from within their minds.

You didn’t make it before, what makes you think this time is any different?

Just like the AI promised, the door opened.

They all will die, why not join us…

… Player ?

Everyone bolted towards the door, trying all their might not to look at the beast as they ran.

They made it.

After everyone made it to the next room, the magnetizing pull ceased. The beast grumbled in dissatisfaction. Then, it swam away.

“ Oh… ” The AI sounded disappointed. “ You all lived…Boo! ”

“What the ████, dude?!” Shouted Daniel. “Why were you trying to kill us?!” 

The AI seemed to ignore him. “ Oh Well!~ I Have So Many Other Games To Play With You!~ Until We Meet Again!~ HaHaHa!~ ”

The door sign returned to normal as the AI left.

They all went quiet, trying to process what had just transpired. Also, to try to let their headaches go away.

Finally, Tate spoke: “So, how did ya know that we had to look away, sweetheart?”

He had directed that question to Grace.

“H-Huh?” She seemed confused.

“Back in there, yer the one who shouted for us to look away from that critter, arentcha?”

“Oh…yeah” She seemed to hesitate for a moment.

She sighed. “I-I don’t know…I-I was trying to look away when the pain started a-and noticed it relieved it. B-But then I noticed it pulling my gaze back to it, l-like it was trying to puppeteer my m-mind. S-So I just reacted on instinct and…Ugh…” 

She put two of her fingers on her forehead. “I-I’m sorry…I-I think I stared too long into its e-eyes. M-my…my brain feels like mush…” She groaned in pain.

Tate stared at her for a moment. Then he said, “Well, it was good thinkin’ on yer part.”

“Y-Yeah, b-but I did take too long to listen…” Alise spoke up, also holding her head in pain. “I-I looked for a long time than I should have as well.”

“I-I did as well…” Randall added. “I-It was like multiple voices screaming in my head…B-But I’m kinda used to headaches and dizziness…”

“That is…not normal, estimado,” she responded, very concerned.

“O-Oh…” He was more embarrassed than concerned.

“Hold on!” proclaimed Daniel, as he dug in his bag. Suddenly, he brings out a medkit. “I forgot to mention that I found this in one of those dark rooms! There might be some pain killers in here!”

She looked at him dumbfounded. “D-Daniel…d-did you find that before you were injured…?”

“Yeah? Why?”

“¡Hombre estúpido! You could have used it for yourself!”

“O-Oh…” He looked embarrassed. “I didn’t think about that—”

“¡Dame eso!” She grabs the medkit out of his hands and opens it. Inside were, indeed, painkillers, but also some gauze, bandaids, antiseptic, and medical tape. Other than that, the medkit is quite bare. “I can make this work! Give me your arm, estimado!”

“Woah! I am not giving you my arm until you take a painkiller for your migraine! Deal?”

She sighed. “Fine, but your wound is more important than my migraine!”

She opened the painkiller bottle. There were only two pills left.

“W-Well, that’s fine!” Proclaimed Randall. “L-Like I said, I-I’ve dealt with c-chronic headaches almost my entire l-life! Y-You guys should take them!”

She wanted to protest, but if she was gonna get Daniel to let her bandage his arm, then she had to take the painkiller. She made a deal, after all.

Grace and Alise took a painkiller each. It would work more effectively if they could take two each, but they could still subside the pain. Then, Alise got to work on Daniel’s shoulder.

She didn’t even need the medkit instructions. She patched him up quickly and efficiently, almost like she was a natural.

“Damn, you patched me up great, doctor!” He joked.

She giggled. “Well, I did not go to school to become a nurse for nothing, estimado!”

“Y-You’re a nurse?” Asked Randall.

“Well, I was learning to become one…” She looked down at her feet. She had a sad expression on her face. Seems going to prison, obviously, ruined her chances.

“Is everyone alright now?” Asked Vee.

“I think so,” answered Grace, “my migraine has subsided.”

“Good, because we need to keep going.”

She was right, they shouldn’t stay in one place longer than necessary. 

They searched the room for more data. But Randall found something new. A document, but it had CLASSIFIED, stamped in red on top if it.

“T-This seems important…”

He opened the document. There was a picture of some face with an open mouth filled with sharp, jagged teeth:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Angler

Z-283 - Codename: "Angler", was originally found at the bottom of the Let-Vand zone during the initial expedition and excavation for the Hadal Blacksite. The "creature" is comprised of a cloud of black and dark blue smoke. Within the smoke, a "face" can be observed in the shape of a stereotypical deep-sea Anglerfish. No matter which angle Z-283 is observed at, the "face" will always face the observer. Even if observed from multiple angles at once, each person reported that they were seeing the face in the smoke. This also happens for any type of camera equipment. Why this happens is as of yet unknown, and will likely never be explained.

Z-283 is incredibly fast, but is also partially blind. Because of this, Z-283 is constantly emitting an incredibly loud scream that it uses to echo-locate through its surroundings. During the initial capture, operatives discovered that even if initial eye contact is made from afar, getting out of sight before it reaches your location will have it simply pass by you. Same thing can't be said if line of sight isn't broken before it reaches you, in which case, its echo will bounce off you, and it will move in for the ████.

For some reason that can't be fully explained yet, Z-283 sends out weak disruptive electrical signals, like an EMP pulse of sorts. The range of the pulse doesn't have an exact measure yet, but the radius is rather wide. Said pulse disrupts all unsecured electronic devices connected to the Blacksites powergrid, causing them to short circuit or malfunction. Z-283 also has a shorter, more powerful disruption signal that is strong enough to outright break by or destroy any said unsecured electronics. The range of this pulse is much shorter, measuring at about ██ by ██ studs.

In the event that Z-283 breaches containment, personnel should note that the pulse it emits disrupts the Blacksites lights, causing them to flicker if near. You can also tell that it's on the way from its earpiercing scream. If this happens, personnel should look for a place to hide before it's arrival. Once Z-283 has passed through the area, it should be noted that it'll leave the room shrouded in darkness. It'll likely take a while for the Emergency Lights system to kick in, so personnel should look for light sources such as Flashlights and/or Lanterns, to help them through the dark rooms that Z-283 leaves behind in its warpath.

Addendum

After the recent Blacksite lockdown, four of what can only be described as Z-283 "variants" were spotted roaming the Blacksite on the CCTV. There's a gray, pink, brown and green variant, refereed to as Z-283-Blitz, Z-283-Pinkie, Z-283-Froger, and Z-283-Chainsmoker. The origin of these so-called variants are currently unknown, further study is needed once the Blacksite Lockdown has been dealt with. For now, operatives are advised to deal with them as they would with the original Z-283.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flickering lights? Leaving dark rooms? This sounds like the monster that killed Guss!

“U-Uh, guys?” He called out. “I-I think I found out what ██████ Guss!”

Everyone went to him and looked at the file.

“‘The Angler’?” Said Daniel curiously. “So it was a fish! But it looks so…Mutated.”

“Yeah,” said Dee, “But I’m more concerned about the last bit.” She points to the seconds labeled “Addendum”.

“There are different kinds of these ███████ roaming around?” Asked Tate. “Ya gotta be █████’ kiddin’ me!” 

“L-Let us hope they act the same as the one we saw before,” stated Alise.

They got to the next door and it opened, but there were shelfs, lockers, and tables randomly placed and some pushed over. Almost like obstacles to stop their progress, or something’s progress?

“I-I have a bad feeling again,” stated Randall.

“It’s fine,” stated Dee, “I’m sure things just got moved during the evacuation of the site.”

She stepped into the room, but as soon as she did, a ███, similar to the one in the submarine, came out of the ceiling. Red dots appeared from it, all in a vertical line.

Then, it started to move, sweeping the room, as if it was looking for something.

“Get outta the way!” Shouted Tate.

They all moved to the sides of the door, outside the room with the ███.

Then, they heard a familiar giggle.

“I knew this was yer doin’, ya stupid AI!”

Suddenly, a sound cue that sounded like the tapping and squealing of a mic played, then the AI did a little “Ahem” and game show music played.

“ Ladies, Gentlemen, and Abominations! Welcome To Our Second Game Of The Evening! I Call It…THE TURRET ROOM!!! ”

The music cut off.

“Are you insane?!” Exclaimed Daniel.

“ HEY! You Better Play Nice! I’m Holding ALL The Cards, And Guess What?! THEY’RE ALL FULL HOUSES!!! Isn’t That Right, Big Guy?! ”

“...What’re ya even talkin’ ‘bout?!” Responded Tate. “That makes no goddamn sense!”

“ Eh, Never Played Cards, Meaning To Learn. Thought You’d Back Me Up Since You’re A Gamblin’ Man. ”

“H-How are we gonna survive that?!” Asked Randall.

“ Oh! That’s Easy! All Of You Just Have To Get Through The Door! Simple! ”

“That’s not simple!” Shouted Grace. “The turret is right above it! One of us still has a high chance of dying!”

It’s true. Even if they made it through, who's to say the AI doesn’t have another room like this later on?

“I have a question,” stated Daniel.

“ I’ll Allow It! ”

“What does that switch do if we pull it?”

He pointed to the switch under the turret. It’s light glowing green, most likely meaning it was activated. 

The AI looked at the switch, then grumbled.

“ That doesn’t do anything. You shouldn’t worry about it. ”

“Guys,” he said, “I think he’s lying.”

“Well, that’s obvious,” stated Tate, “Let me guess, yer thinkin’ it's the switch to the ███?”

“Exactly, if one of us can get past the turret and flip it, then it’ll deactivate and we can roam the room freely!”

“ You know I can hear you, right? ” The AI responded. “ That’s A STUPID Idea! ”

“Not if one of us uses the lockers and shelves as cover,” stated Vee, “if someone is able to go from one to the other, then the turret can’t see them.”

“I’ll go,” stated Tate as he was about to go.

“Woah! Hold on!” Exclaimed Daniel, grabbing him before he tried to go into the room. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. N-Not to be rude or anything! But you are…um…you’re a little…um—”

“It’s fine, I understand.” He knew what he was insinuating and that he didn’t mean any bad will.

“I will go,” said Alise, “I think I can make it.”

“Are you sure?” Asked Daniel.

“Someone has to…”

She took in a deep breath, then she ran behind one of the lockers as the turret swept back. Then, she ran and duck behind a table as it swept again. But now there was a problem, she needed to go out and come back in to get to the next hiding spot. She waited for the turret to sweep to the other side of the room, then made a break for it.

But she hesitated a bit too long, as the turret already started sweeping back. Suddenly, the turret locked on to her, beeped a few times, then █████ rapidly.

Luckily, she was quick enough to dodge the ███████ and get into the hiding spot. It █████ a few more rounds at the hiding spot and then finally ceased. It went back to sweeping the room.

“Alise! Are you alright?!” Called out Grace.

There was a beat of silence before she called back: “Y-Yeah, I am fine! Just…a bit shook up…”

She took a moment to catch her breath, then she waited till it pointed to her side of the room. As soon as it did, she quickly ran for the lever and pulled it down.

The red lights turned off and the turret drooped. Then, it went back up into the ceiling.

“Good job, Nurse!” Called out Daniel.

“ Arrrggghhh…COME ON! Y’ALL ARE NO FUN AT ALL!!! ”

The AI grumbled in frustration, then it sighed.

“ It’s Fine! I Still Have One Last Game I Could Use! And if that doesn’t work…Then I’ll Just Use The Same Tricks Again! MwaHaHaHa! ”

The sign went back to normal.

“¡Dios mío, eso fue tan estresante!” Stated Alise. “I do not think I want to do that again!”

“Don’t worry!” Responded Daniel. “I’ll just do it next time! Now, let’s continue onwards!”

They looked around the room, now safe from any ████ that might █████ at them, and collected data. Then, they entered room 18. 

While looking around, Randall spotted another file with the word “CLASSIFIED” on the front, right on the table next to a locker.

“O-Oh! M-Maybe it's more information about another mon—GAH!”

He yelped in surprise when he noticed bright purple eyes looking at him from the locker. The locker monster was back.

“Are you alright, buddy?” Called Daniel. The others came over to Randall.

“Y-Yeah…J-Just got startled by the t-thing in the lockers…”

“It’s back?” Asked Grace. “I thought it would be stuck in one spot.”

“It might be a different one,” suggested Vee, “the document for the Anglers implied there were multiples of them. Why not be the same for the others?”

Randall quickly grabbed the document, the entity's eyes just watched him as he did it.

He opened the file and they all looked in it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Puddles of Void-Mass

Z-V06, aka, "Puddles from the Void-mass", are clumps of sentient puddle spawns from Z-V0. (Refer to the "Valcula Void-mass" document for further information).

1 hour and 26 minutes into the Lockdown, Z-13 disabled the Anti-Disgression Evaporation field inside its cell, and opened the containment doors. Immediately, Z-V0 started spawning Z-V01 through 05 instances, as well as this new instance, Z-06. Luckily, in his haste to cause even more property damage, Z-13 forgot to turn off the Evaporation-Floodlights Contingency-Measure outside of the door, causing all of the Z-V01 through 05 instances to evaporate as they tried to leave. However, the new Z-V06 instances did not evaporate. It is theorized that the new Z-V06 instance is evolved to withstand the effects of the AD.E system. It is currently unknown why Z-V01 through 05 have not evolved in the same way. 17 minutes after the AD-E system was turned off, Dr. ████████ found his way to the control room and turned it back on. An estimated total of 6200-6700 instances are now loose in the Blacksite.

A Z-V06 instance is what can only be described as a black mass with 2 eyes and 2 tentacle-like arms that it uses to crawl around with. CCTV showed them just kind of crawling around aimlessly until they found small, enclosed areas, like lockers , crawling inside and just staying there.

Z-V06 instances will not attack unless provoked. This normally wouldn't be a problem, if it wasn't for several monsters currently loose. In the event that an operative needs to hide, its highly advised that they double-check the locker they're about to hide in.

Any locker with a Z-V06 instance inside can be identified by 3 key factors. First, the locker will have what can only be described as "audible breathing". Second, two big purple glowing eyes can be seen through the lockers airholes. Third, a black liquid goo~ish substance can be seen dripping at the bottom of the locker onto the floor.

In the event that an operative accidentally opens a locker with a Z-V06 instance inside and is pulled in, they can still be rescued. Whilst the window is short, it usually takes a bit before the Z-V06 properly starts to "digest" its victim, depending on how hurt said victim is. If a colleague is captured, it is highly advised to get them out of the locker immediately, as to not suffer unnecessary casualties.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Its name is Void?” Asked Daniel, looking at the locker monster, now known as Void. 

“Makes sense,” stated Grace, “it looked like just a black empty space in the locker, besides the eyes.”

Void grumbled.

“I am more curious about this ‘ Z-13 ’ entity,” said Dee, “it sounds like it is the reason for the lockdown.”

“Is that who the shark meant as ‘Player’?” Asked Vee.

“Player?” Asked Daniel.

“Oh yeah, that critter did mention sumthin’ referred to as ‘Player ’,” chimed in Tate, “but it seemed to think that ‘ Player’ was one of us.”

“M-Maybe it was mistaken?” Suggested Alise.

“M-My head hurts thinking about it…” Stated Randall.

“Yeah, let's just keep going,” suggested Vee.

They walked into the next room.

“Hey, we're almost a quarter of the way to the crystal!” Proclaimed Daniel.

“█████’ finally!” Exclaimed Tate. “The sooner we get it, the sooner we can get outta this ████hole!”

He sped-walked towards the next door.

“W-Wait,” Alise started to say, “what about the stuff?”

“At this point, I don’t care ‘bout that sciencey stuff. I want to get home now where I can just kick back an’ drink my ██████!”

“Wow!” Exclaimed Daniel. “I did not expect you to be so quick!”

“I’m full of surprises, sweetheart~”

But as soon as he stepped into the next room. The lights flickered.

“Oh you gotta be █████’ kiddin’ me!”

There were only three lockers in room 19, the room Daniel, Alise, Randall, Grace, Dee, and Vee were in, and two in room 20, the room Tate stepped in. That wasn’t enough for all of them.

“Y’all take these lockers! I’ll go to the next room!” Explained Tate.

He ran down the hallway, which was quite long, and ran into room 21. 

There was only one locker. And the next door had a keycard reader.

He took a moment to catch his breath and think. There weren't enough lockers and not enough time to find the keycard.

Then he noticed the side room.

He suddenly recalled a piece of information in the Angler file:

'…even if initial eye contact is made from afar, getting out of sight before it reaches your location will have it simply pass by you…'

If that’s true, then hiding in a side room may be a viable option. It was a risk, but with Tate’s luck, it was a risk he was willing to take.

Besides, he did NOT want to be cramped up in a locker again.

He quickly ran into the side room and sat behind one of the desks. He may have a better shot of this working if he hid as well.

But then there were running footsteps and heavy breathing coming closer, along with the beast’s roar, which sounded a little different from before.

It was Grace.

Of course, she had staggered behind the group a bit and now it was coming to bite her in the ███. 

With how far she had to run, she’ll be more out of breath, and consequently slow down. She might barely make it to the locker next to the side room, but that was a big IF since the monster sounded dangerously close.

Tate had a choice. He could keep hiding and Grace either makes it to the locker or gets ███████. Or he could risk coming out, grabbing her, and pulling her into the side room with him, which may end up getting them both ██████ instead.

Tate made his decision.

He got up and ran towards the door. Luckily, she had gotten close to the side room door by the time he got there. She had already significantly slowed down, but the Angler was close behind her. 

He quickly reached his arm out and wrapped it around her. He pulled her into him and ran back behind the desk. He held her tight to his chest.

If his hypothesis was incorrect, then at least he could use his body as a shield for Grace.

The Angler let out its deafening roar as it passed them. The lights went out as it rushed through.

Every room went dark…

…Every room, except the side room.

Chapter Text

“That was close,” Tate finally said, panting, “Are you—”

Suddenly, the roar came again. Seems like it wasn’t the normal Angler from before, as it rebounds back.

It passes by again. Instead of trying to talk again, he waits in silence. The roar is heard again and it passes by once again.

He waited again. Silence. Seems like it finally left.

“████, I hope none of the others got out,” he states, “If they did, I hope they heard it in time to get back in.”

He looked down at Grace. She was breathing heavily and she was hanging on to him tight. She was trembling.

It seems Grace was in shock or on the verge of a panic attack. She didn’t even look up at Tate, instead just had her face in his chest. It was probably pleasantly squishy.

“Hey, it's okay…” Tate spoke in a gentle voice, trying to calm her down. “The monster’s gone now an’ we're alive.” He brushed his fingers through her hair and, with his other hand, rubbed her back softly.

Her breathing started to slow down and she stopped shaking as bad. She was so small compared to him. Like a tiny kitten. But it also made sense why. In terms of height, while Tate was the biggest in the group, Grace was the smallest. While Randall looked the weakest, she was just behind him.

Although, Tate would be lying if he said that seeing Grace so scared didn’t make him ███████. He couldn’t help it. This was a new side to her. Sure, she had shown some fear, but this was the first time she actually looked terrified. He just wanted to ████ ████ ███ and—

Suddenly, the moment is interrupted by someone calling for them:

“Tate! Grace! Are you guys alright?!” Shouted Daniel.

Tate answered back. “Yeah! We’re in the room to the side! The critters don’t seem to come in ‘ere!” He quickly wiped the drool from his mouth, hoping Grace didn’t notice.

Everyone went towards where Tate and Grace were. Looks like they suffered no casualties this time.

“¡Gracias a Dios!” Exclaimed Alise. “I thought one of you may have accidentally got caught when it came back!” 

“Y-Yeah, I noticed that,” said Grace, seeming to have calmed down enough to speak, “that must have been one of the variants.”

“I think its color was brown ,” stated Dee, “that is Froger , correct?”

“Yep,” confirmed Daniel, “so now we know Froger rebounds. Almost got turned into fish food when I went out! Good thing I heard it in time to get back in!”

“...Are you guys comfortable there?” Asked Vee smugly, as Grace was still practically sitting in Tate’s lap.

She practically jumped out of his lap. A light blush of embarrassment appeared on her face. Tate just simply laughed.

“Well,” said Alise, trying to save her from any more embarrassment, “at least the lights did not go out in this room!”

“Yeah, ‘specially since we need to find the damn keycard,” pointed out Tate, “unless the critter forced the door open.”

“I checked,” stated Daniel, “it, unfortunately, did not.”

“Welp, better start searchin’!”

Tate put his hand on the desk to help hoist himself up. He grunted.

“God █████’ dammit, I’m too old for this ████!”

He stretched a bit and then huffed.

“Found it,” proclaimed Dee, who had already been looking in the drawers.

“Good!” Responded Daniel. “Let’s go!”

He led the way with his flashlight. Dee used the keycard on the door and it opened. They proceeded forward. 

They avoided shining the light on the squid entities, but it seems like there were more rooms that were dark this time.

“Weird,” commented Alise, “there were only two dark rooms to get through last time.”

“Maybe the rooms were already dark?” Suggested Daniel. “I highly doubt we wouldn’t encounter a natural dark room at some point.”

“I-I think something moved,” commented Randall.

“Yeah, the squids. They always move a bit.”

“No, he is right,” said Vee, “and I do not think it is those squids either.”

“Light! Now!” Shouted Grace.

Daniel shined the light over to what was moving. They were right, it wasn’t a squid. Instead, it was some concrete statue shaped like a person, but with a lantern candle for a head.

It seemed to have stopped moving as soon as the light hit it.

“Oh, that’s new,” he commented, “would be even more creepy if it was an angel—”

As if to make matters worse, his flashlight starts flickering.

“No no no no no! Why now?!”

He tried to hit the flashlight in an attempt to make it stop, but it ultimately went out.

The statue started moving again. It was heading towards Daniel slowly.

But then another light beam hit the statue. It stopped its pursuit.

“I-I found it in that side room!” Stated Randall. “I-I forgot to mention it. I-I’m sorry!”

“It is fine, estimado,” said Alise, “you just saved us!”

“Let's get to the door,” said Grace, “now.”

“Good idea,” agreed Dee, “we do not want to waste another flashlight’s battery.”

They tried shuffling towards the next room’s door. But then Randall caught movement on his side.

He quickly pointed towards it. Now they had two statues.

But as soon as he pointed the light to the second statue, the first statue started to move.

“I-I need to get farther away so I can have them both in the light!” He exclaimed.

He quickly backed up. He had all three statues in the flashlight’s beam.

“¡¿Qué ████████?!” Exclaimed Alise. “When was there a third one?!”

“I-I don’t know! B-But we are close to the door, r-right? I-I see light in the room a-after. I-I’m sure once we get there w-we’ll be safe! I-I just need to k-keep the light on—”

As if on cue, the candles suddenly lit up. They were an unnatural blue color, and it seemed the color glowed on their stone, like they were veins.

“?!” Everyone was in shock.

Despite the light shone on them, they started to move towards them again, but a lot faster.

“R-RUN!!!” Randall yelled.

They ran as fast as they could, ignoring the squids as they passed. Despite agitating a few, they seemed to be able to get dangerously close to them without getting jumped.

Heavy steps of the statues got louder and louder. They were making distance quickly towards the group.

Unfortunately for them, the group was faster. Randall tripped through the doorway into the safety of the room’s light.

He quickly rolled over and looked through the door. The concrete statue had stopped right at the door, but did not dare to enter. They seem to stare at Randall, as if they wanted to drag him back in there with them. After what seemed like an eternity went by, the statues started to move back into the darkness, their blue light slowly dimming as they went.

He kept staring into the dark room for a moment, seemingly shaken by the close call. He felt like what happened may have been his fault somehow. He was breathing heavily.

“Randall, you okay?”

He flinched as he was brought back to reality. He looked up at Grace, who was holding her hand out for him to take.

He hesitated for a moment, then he finally grabbed her hand, responding: “Y-yeah, j-just…scared me there…”

She helped him back to his feet.

“It seems like they REALLY don’t like the light!” Exclaimed Daniel.

They all took a moment to catch their breath.

“We got to keep moving,” finally said Vee.

“Agreed,” responded Alise, “we are in room 26 already! That is over a quarter of the way to the crystal, correct?”

“Yep!” Confirmed Daniel. “And it looks like there are three side rooms to explore here too!”

“Welp,” said Vee, “let us look around for something useful, like more flashlights.”

“Or batteries.” He hit his flashlight again. It was definitely not coming back on.

Everyone went to look in the rooms, except Randall and Grace.

As she walked away from him, Randall just stared at her, like he was lost in thought.

“Whatever your thinking happened is wrong,” She said as she stopped in her tracks.

“H-Huh?” 

She turned around and looked at him.

“Me and Tate. Tate just simply saved my life by pulling me into the side room. Then, I was pretty shook up, so he was trying to comfort me. That was all.”

“O-Oh, I-I didn’t—”

“It’s fine, Randall. You guys did find us in an…Awkward position…” She scratched the back of her head. “But believe me when I say there is no connection there. I don’t know if I’m even capable of falling in love, to be honest.”

“T-That…Makes sense…” He felt stupid.

“Like I said, it’s fine. But, Randall, buddy, can you be more obvious about your crush?”

His face turned beet red. “I-Is it that o-obvious…?”

“As someone who has a hard time telling what another person is feeling 9 times out of 10, yes. In fact, if Tate doesn’t know, then he is more of a dumb███ than I thought.”

“I-I don’t think he’s dumb…”

“I don’t mean that in a mean way. More in a friendly joking way. You know, like how friends will say ‘you dork’ or ‘hey there loverboy’?”

“I-I guess…”

“Anyway, I might not be socially aware, but I could tell immediately that you were not happy after that whole thing. So, I found it better to clear it up so we didn’t have any more tension. We saw what happened last time…”

“D-Don’t remind me…” He had been trying to forget the picture of Guss’s ██████.

“I’m just saying, it’s better for me to think if you're not staring at me the whole time.”

Grace took a couple of steps towards Randall.

“So, are we good now?”

She held her hand out towards him, then turned it into a fist. 

He hesitated for a moment, until he realized that she was trying to get a fist bump.

“...Y-yeah, we’re good…” 

He softly returned the fist bump, and softly smiled.

Grace softly smiled back.

“Oh ████ yeah!!!” Yelled Tate.

Everyone’s attention was grabbed by the sudden outburst. They all went to him.

“Look what I found!” He pulled an object from a drawer.

It was a ███, more specifically a ████████. It had a unique pattern of golden engravings.

“Now we can finally properly defend ourselves! No more hiding like—”

Tate suddenly froze.

“Uh,” said Daniel, kind of confused by his shift in demeanor, “you good, dude?”

“I…uh…don’t know…”

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. And there seemed to be a tint of red that had developed in Tate’s eyes.

“What the— What the ████ is that?!”

Tate had started to look at something, but to the others it just looked like he was staring at the empty corner of the room.

Then, his arm shaking, ███████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ███████.

“TATE?!” Yelled Alise.

He tried using his free arm to get it to stop, but it was like he was struggling for control of himself.

“Don’t worry!” Shouted Daniel. “I got—”

“STAY BACK!!!” He yelled. “I don’t wanna hurt y’all! I just gotta…”

He growled. Seems he was able to stall the arm, but it was still not letting up.

“Tate, you can fight this!” Dee shouted. “Do not let this демон win!”

He struggled, but started to move the ███ ████ ████ ███. He started ██████ at whatever he was seeing. 

“Come on Tate!” Shouted Alise, after seeing Dee’s encouragement work. “You are stronger than this thing!”

Suddenly, they could all see it now. It was a girl, but her legs were missing. She had short pigtails and seemed to be ███████ ██ █████ ███████. There was a chain holding her up ██ ███ ████. But she was purely a black silhouette. The only color was her crimson red eyes. 

It was a █████ .

And in her hand she held a ██████ █████ and had it pointing towards Tate’s side.

She was going to ███ him.

Randall cried out:

“TATE!!!”

Tate roared.

And then a ███████ could be heard.

They all closed their eyes. They were scared and nervous to look. The idea of seeing another one of their companions ████ was terrifying.

And then they heard the ███ clatter to the ground.

“That was…too damn close for comfort…”

They slowly opened their eyes. Tate was not ███████. Tate was not ████. Tate was shaken, but alive.

The ████████ laid on the ground.

Dee quickly went over and kicked it under a desk. Not like anyone was going to dare touch it anyway.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

The red tint had faded and his eyes returned to normal: “Yeah, just…a little shook up is all—”

Randall ran over to Tate and hugged him. He was crying.

“Woah! Uh…” He was not expecting that. He did not know what to do, but eventually sighed and smiled softly. “Aw…Did ya worry ‘bout me that much, Bunny?~ Don’t worry…I’m tough! I wasn’t gonna let some haunted ███ take me out!”

Randall sniffled. “I-I really thought I lost you…”

Tate couldn’t help but bite his lip. “Heh…cute~” He pet Randall on the head.

“Don’t do something like that again, dumb███!” Stated Grace.

“Dumb███?” Tate raised an eyebrow at her. He seemed kind of amused rather than offended.

“As much as I do not agree with cursing,” piped Alise, “I do agree with Grace. You should have tread a bit more carefully!”

“I can’t say anything,” commented Daniel, “I’d probably do the same thing.”

“Yeah,” added Vee, “but at least it led to the gay hugging the big strong man.”

On that comment, Randall had realized what he had done and promptly let go, scratching his head and blushing in embarrassment. “O-Oops! S-Sorry….”

“It’s fine, Bunny!” Tate laughed. “I quite enjoyed it~”

Randall felt like his head was going to explode again.

“We need to keep moving,” stated Dee.

As much as he may have wanted the moment to last, she was right. They had to continue forward.

They exited the side room and headed towards the door, but Randall spotted a file on the table next to it.

“A-Another one?” He asked out loud.

“Great,” said Daniel, a little annoyed, “Which monster is it about this time?”

Randall grabbed the file and opened it:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Redeemer

D-227 - Codename: "Redeemer", is a black ████████ with golden engravings that when picked up, summons a █████ that tries to force its wielder to ████ ██████████.

Originally found in ████████ ████ █████████, after a customer in "███████ ████'s Haunted Antique' Store" who wanted to buy D-227 and was unaware of its anomalous properties, picked up the ███ and ████ ███████. Whilst this wasn't the incident that alerted Urbanshade, it was only after a forensic investigator picked up the ███, summoned the █████, and managed to ████ it, that Urbanshade was alerted.

The import logs of the store were checked, and it was discovered that D-227 had been sold to the store by a so-called "██████ █████", claiming that the ███ was cursed with the spirit of a █████, and "Warning to not grab the handle.". Records have shown that this was a false alias, and no "██████ █████" exists. A news story was promptly fabricated and published, alleging that the victim was untrained with ████████ and ████████ the ██████ while examining it, ████████ ███████ by accident.

When D-227 is picked up by the handle, a █████, hereby referred to as D-277-1 - Codename: "Hanger", will manifest itself behind the new wielder.

D-277-1 takes on the appearance of a black humanoid woman with red eyes, ███████ ██ █ chain █████, and carrying a ██████ █████. Her body is full of oversized █████ ██████, ██████, and ██████ protruding from her torso. Her lower extremity is missing, with metal chains hanging where her ██████████ should be. D-227-1 will then try to take control of the wielder's hand, turning D-227 against them. This manifests in the form of an urge by the wielder, an urge that can be overcome with determination by taking control back of one's hand, ███, and ████ at D-227-1 instead. Getting ████ by D-227 will temporarily ████ D-227-1, leaving her ███████. D-227 will then vanish from the wielder's hand and re-materialize somewhere in a 700-stud radius, with D-227-1's corpse only vanishing once eye contact is broken. If it takes too long for the wielder to either █████ ██████████ or D-227-1, D-227-1 will float over to them and start ████████ ████ ██ █████. █████ ██ ████████ will have both instances de-manifest as usual. Should D-227 be picked up again, D-227-1 will appear again, unharmed. 

Should the wielder fail to overcome the urge, D-227-1 will force the wielder to ███ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██████ and ████ ███ ███████. Once D-227 has been █████ and the wielder is ████, D-227 will de-materialize as usual, and D-227-1 will vanish into thin air until D-227 is picked up again.

When becoming visible to all, D-227-1 cannot be interacted with, ████, or harmed by outside forces. If anyone attempts to approach D-227-1 without carrying D-227, she will attempt to ████ them with her █████.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well, it's a good thing instinctively ████ at the █████!” Exclaimed Tate.

“I wonder who cursed the ███?” Wondered Alise.

“It does not matter anymore,” stated Vee, “we have to keep moving.”

They proceeded to the next room.

Something new. Instead of one door, there were now two.

“Okay, which way should we go?” Asked Alise.

“D-Do they lead the same way?” Asked Randall.

“I seriously doubt it does,” responded Dee.

“ Maybe You Guys Should Go Straight!~ ” Suggested the AI.

Daniel looked confused, “But there isn’t a straight—”

“WHAT THE?! ARE YOU █████’ KIDDIN’ ME?! WHY ARE YA BACK?!” Screamed Tate.

Everyone jumped in surprise. The AI cackled.

“Do not tell me,” said Vee, “is this—”

“ Welcome To My Final Game!~ I Call It…PICK THE DOOR!!! ”

“Let me guess,” said Daniel, “one door is fake and possibly deadly, while the other is the way forward?”

“ Right You Are, My Delicious Apple!~ ”

“A-Apple?” Asked Randall.

“ Well, The Fake Door Does House Another One Of My Special F R I E N D S!~ ”

“So, another monster?” Asked Dee.

The AI gasped dramatically. “ How DARE You Call Him A ‘MONSTER’?! ”

“I’m too tired for this ████,” stated Grace, “how do we know which one is the right door?”

“ I don’t know, you figure it out. ”

“T-There has to be some kind of hint!” Stated Alise.

“ It’s a GUESSING GAME! A Hint Makes It Less Of A GUESS! ”

As if hearing their pleas for some kind of answer, the intercom comes on and the man from the beginning speaks:

“ It’s right. Proceed right. ”

The intercom shuts off.

“Good timing, dude!” Exclaimed Daniel.

“ Awww…That’s Not Fair!!! ”

“As much as I hate to agree with the scribble,” commented Tate, “that was unfair, but also a little too convenient.”

“Who cares! Less █████ this way!” Daniel went towards the right door.

As he approached the door, its sign sparked.

The AI smiled wickedly.

“Wait!” Tate tried to call out, but it was too late.

The door opened in front of Daniel, but instead of the way forward, there was a giant monster crouched in the corner.

It looked at him. It had a creepy smiling mask for a face. Its body is bloated and ██████. It had long, skinny arms with long, pointed fingers.

Daniel froze in fear as it lunged at him.

Luckily, Tate had noticed in time to run to him and pull him back. The monster stretched its arms trying to grab them, but the door slammed into its arm as it closed. The monster pulled its arm back and the door closed shut.

The AI was cackling.

“ YOU MORON!!! I Can’t BELIEVE You Fell For THAT!!! You’re So Goddamn GULLIBLE!!! ”

“B-But,” Randall stammered, a little shook by Daniel almost becoming monster food, “H-How did you—”

The intercom came back on again:

“ The correct door is to the left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down, B, A, start. ”

The intercom was cut off.

“ I’m A Pretty Great Actor, Right?~ ”

Then, the AI’s expression changed to one of disappointment.

“ Although, he didn’t die like I wanted him to…that’s tOoOoOtally great… ”

“But now we know which is the correct door, right?” Pointed out Vee. “There were only two doors and now we know which one has the monster.”

The AI grumbled angrily.

“Well,” said Grace, “let’s get moving.”

They all proceeded towards the door, but Randall saw the table underneath the AI’s sign, which had a drawer. It wouldn’t hurt to check real quick.

It was another document with ‘CLASSIFIED’ on the front.

Suddenly, the AI played a sound cue that sounded like children shouting ‘HOORAY!’. He screamed and almost dropped the file.

“ Wowie!~ You Have Been So Lucky Finding Those Information Files!~ I Would Be So Surprised If You WEREN’T The Main Character, Purple Guy !~ ”

“...” Randall stood quietly looking at the AI, then simply stated: “I don’t like you.”

The AI giggled. “ Well, Too Bad, Purple Guy !~ Because I Like YOU!!!~ ”

He looked puzzled by the comment, but before he could ask what it meant:

“Leave him alone, ya goddamn hunk of junk!” Shouted Tate, as he moved him away from the AI.

The AI sighed. “ The wolf is still breaking the laws of nature by protecting the bunny…Until We Meet Again, Idiots!~ ”

The screen went back to normal.

Tate huffed in annoyance. “That little ████ ain’t gonna leave us alone, is he?” Then, he looked at the file Randall had in his hands. “Well, better learn how to better deal with these critters, right?”

He hesitated for a moment, but finally snapped out of it: “O-Oh! R-Right…”

Randall opened the file. It wasn’t about the monster behind the fake door, but it was about a monster they had already seen before:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eyefestation

Z-317 - Codename: "Eyefestation", was a Bull Shark used in the B.U.P.W.M program. The B.U.P.W.M program was an experiment to allow an individual to ████ someone telepathically through eye contact by beaming highly radioactive waves through a victims optic nerve, causing their █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████. The experiment consisted of ███████ ███ the eyeballs of the patient, placing them in a jar of genetically altered Rotten Coral for 18 hours, injecting the now rotten eyeballs with 20ml of CT-19, before surgically implanting them back into the patient. For the procedure to be work properly, the patient must be conscious the entire time and must not be put under the effects of anesthesia, painkillers or any other forms of █████ that alter the patients brain chemistry. Z-317 is the first successful experiment from this program.

Whilst the experiments on Z-317 worked, the side effects were considered unacceptable. The obvious problem was the ludicrous amount of new eyes on the body's exterior, as well as the interior. An x-ray showed that the entirety of its insides was infested with eyes, all moving. Another side-effect was all the eyes would become neon green and have its circular pupil replaced with that of an X.

Not all side effects are bad however. An unaccounted side effect is that Z-317 can telepathically force someone to look at it, eye contact or not. However, it's a weak pull that can be fought back by the victim , and it becomes incredibly obvious for the victim to know that they're in its gaze. 

5 hours and 34 minutes into the Lockdown, Z-13 opened Z-317's containment cell, letting it swim out into the ocean. Z-317 stayed near the Blacksite, looking through the windows and trying to find people to ████. It is currently unknown why its doing this, but its assumed that its out of malice and/or hatred. Z-317 was already scheduled for █████████████, and will be hunted down once the Lockdown is dealt with.

If any operative is to encounter Z-317 outside the window of the room they're currently in and feel the effects of its gaze, they should fight it until they can get out of the room. Z-317 will normally try to attack in areas with lots of open space for itself , and free of our Smart-Mines. When Z-317 finds a window with victims inside, it'll stay at that window until it █████ its victim, or the victim somehow manages to make its way through the room, after which, Z-317 leaves in search of new prey. Z-317 seems to see all humans as threats, and will try to ████ anyone it sees, no matter their role.

Addendum

An as-of-yet side effect has been discovered. Personnel that have since returned to the surface have reported that after Z-317 had spotted them, a voice in their head was telling them to look directly into Z-317's eyes. Reported voices trying to persuade them include: Relatives, loved ones, HQ, high commanding officers and co-workers. Do. Not. Listen.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“So it DID speak to us,” commented Dee, scaring the daylights out of Randall. The others had stood behind him, looking over his shoulder.

“So was the shark trying to trick us by mentioning some ‘Player’?” Asked Daniel. “Or was it ACTUALLY talking to one of us?”

“My question is, why would one of us hide this fact, if it is true?” Responded Vee with a question of their own. “Seems more like a trick in that case.”

It was all confusing, but once again the entity Z-13 was mentioned. If they caused all this, where are they now?

“Let us just continue,” suggested Dee, “we will most likely find out more as we go.”

She was right. They had to continue. 

They continued to the next room. But there was no next door. Instead, there was a vent.

“Don’t tell me we gotta go through there…” Grumbled Tate.

“L-Looks like we have no c-choice,” pointed out Randall.

He sighed. “Alright, it doesn’t look too terribly small for me. Let me try…”

He got down and crawled in the vent. It was a tight squeeze but he, luckily, fit through.

He grunted. “Okay, mah luck hasn’t failed me yet, at least. Come on!”

Daniel went in next, then Alise, then Vee followed by Dee.

“I-I, u-uh, d-don’t really like small places…” Said Randall. “A-Are we sure that door to the side isn’t the w-way to go?”

“It doesn’t have a sign,” pointed out Grace, “so it must not be the right way. Also, it didn’t open up when I got close to it—”

Suddenly, the lights flickered . Twice.

This Angler was coming extremely fast.

“VENT! QUICK!”

He quickly got down trying to get into the vent as quickly as possible. She was practically pushing him through.

She got in just barely before the gray Angler, which meant this one was Blitz, passed through. It barreled through the locked door, but it quickly locked shut behind it again.

“T-That was too close!!!” He shouted.

“Y’all alright back there?” Asked Tate.

“Yeah,” answered Grace, “just almost got turned into dinner, heh.”

“Seems they do not go through vents,” pointed out Dee, “that is good to take into account.”

They continued onwards.

They made it into a bigger space. A yellow glow filled the area.

They could finally rest.

.     .     .

Grace sat on the floor, swinging her feet side to side, just like she did in the submarine, absently staring at them.

“How are you doing?” Asked Alise, sitting down next to her.

“I’m doing fine,” she responded, “as fine as I can be with monsters roaming around trying to kill us.”

“I am surprised! You definitely seemed shaken after the close call with Froger !”

Grace stopped swinging her feet, but continued staring at them. She looked troubled. “Yeah, but Tate is surprisingly great at calming people down.” 

“Yeah, he looks scary at first, but he is very charming, no doubt!”

“Although, I had to assure Randall I was not interested in him.”

Alise tilted her head. “You are not?”

Grace went quiet for a moment, then blushed a little. “...Maybe a little interested. But I don’t think I’m in the position to fall in love right now. Best let him have Tate.”

“Hehe~ I think he is objectively handsome~ But I personally do not think he is the one for me either. Maybe If I get to know him better…”

“Yeah…”

Silence filled the air for a moment.

“So, you were studying to become a nurse?”

“Sí! I was the first in my family to be able to go to college! But now…I guess I am a disappointment…”

Alise looked sad again.

“Well, you’re not a disappointment to us. You patched Daniel up pretty well. And you’ll probably have to patch us up some more as we go.”

“I guess that is true, estimada…as long as I live, that is…”

Alise put her knees to her chest and hugged them. It seems, despite her motherly demeanor, she may have some negative thoughts running through her head.

“...Can you teach me?”

“Huh?” Alise was surprised.

Grace pulled out a medkit. “I found it a while ago. But I don’t know how to use it. Maybe you could teach me?”

Alise smiled, she finally felt useful once again.

“I would love to, estimada~”

.     .     .

“Darlin’, what’re ya doin’?” Tate asked Daniel.

Somehow, he had managed to climb some of the pipes, trying to get close to the vent where the yellow light was coming from.

“I’m trying to see where the light is coming from!” He answered. “It looks like sunlight, but we’re underwater!”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just a light…”

“Maybe, but there could also be a shortcut! Or treasure! Either works!”

He started to reach for it. “Now…if I can just…”

Suddenly, his foot slipped.

“OH ████!!!”

Daniel fell. Luckily, Tate already expected this and caught him.

“Ya alright there, Sha?~”

“Uh…Yeah…Thanks…”

He seems uncomfortable being held by him. And the flirt.

Tate puts him down. “Sorry ‘bout that! I just couldn’t help myself!”

“I-It’s fine, dude! I just don’t swing that way…”

“Understandable.”

He seemed to ponder something for a moment.

“But ya did seem incredibly upset when Guss called Randall…y’know…THAT word.” He didn’t seem to be happy about that situation either.

“Yeah, I just…I was kind of called that by my…’buddies’...”

“Sounds like yer ‘buddies’ weren’t really the greatest, huh?”

“Yeah, they, um, weren’t…” He sighed. “But I was the fool to stick around as long as I did.”

“Sounds like you have one ███████ story.”

“Heh…I guess…”

Daniel looked back at the light. Then he sighed, longingly. 

“I just wanted to get back home…And I would have if I didn’t sign up for this…”

He took out a ring and looked at it. He seemed to be sad.

“What’s the ring for?” Tate asked curiously.

He sighed. “It’s a promise ring. My girlfriend has the other.”

“Damn, now I really feel like a ████ for flirting with ya.” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Daniel chuckled. “It’s fine. You didn’t know.” He sighed. “I went to college for mechanical engineering. I always had a love for creating stuff.”

“There, I joined a fraternity. I thought it was great! We had amazing parties! We always hangout…”

Tate raised an eyebrow. “But…?”

“But…They went from ███████ to █████. I did move to ████, nothing serious, but they went for the hard ████. I didn’t want to start that ████ because I saw my mom use it. She wasn’t…the most attentive mom.”

“Anyway, they also got me roped into drag racing. I was pretty damn good at it too! I smoked all the competition! And I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it either!”

“But this also led me to be the main driver for getting them to their ████ █████. There were many close calls.”

“I’m guessing yer girlfriend wasn’t happy?” Guessed Tate.

He sighed. “No…No she was not…”

Daniel shuffled his feet nervously, then he continued: “The truth is, we were childhood best friends. But I never had feelings for them…Until they transitioned after college.”

“Wait, ‘transitioned’?” Tate was surprised. “You mean she’s…?”

He nodded. “That’s why they used to call me that. They joked that I was actually gay because I was dating a dude dressed like a girl. But to me, she was a girl. I always knew something was different about them, but it wasn’t until they came out to me that it suddenly clicked. I never was attracted back then because...Well, I’m not attracted to dudes. But as soon as she became her real self, I just started getting butterflies in my stomach and all that love ████, man.”

“The more she became herself and felt comfortable, the more the feeling grew, until it was too unbearable to keep to myself any longer. So, I decided to invite her to our favorite pizza joint, like we used to back when we were kids, and confess to her. But I apparently took too long because she confessed before I could!”

“We have been dating for about a year now. I gave her a promise ring because, unfortunately, we can’t get married because, despite her identifying as a woman, the state still considered her a man and men can’t marry other men. So, it was like a promise for the future. If things changed and we could marry, I wanted her to be my wife.”

“Awww, well, y’all just sounded like the sweetest couple~” Commented Tate.

Daniel blushed in embarrassment. “Heh, yeah…I just can’t help but gush over her! She’s my whole world! A-Although, I thought you’d be weirded out by it—”

“Naw, it's not mah place to judge! If someone is happy, then why does another’s opinions matter! ████, I may not be the romantic type, but I’d be lying if I din’t say I enjoy watching or even reading it!”

“Heh, didn’t take you as the type to read.” 

Tate just shrugged. “Like I said, I’m full of surprises~”

“Anyway, she was excited when I gave her the ring. But she said she’d only accept if I did two things: Stop hanging out with my frat brothers and quit drag racing.”

“Ouch.”

Daniel shrugged. “At that point, I was already considering cutting contact with them. It was mostly the drag racing that was hard. But I loved her more than the drag racing. I agreed, but after I did one more deal with my buddies, since I had already agreed to drive them.”

“But I’m guessing it din’t go as planned?”

“No, but it wasn’t because the deal had gone sour. In fact, there was no deal! They had me drive them to a bank, saying the deal was happening in the alleyway next to it! I waited in the car, like I usually did, then the bank alarms went off and my buddies got into the car with bags of cash!”

“Oh ████!” 

“That’s what I was thinking when I realized they had just robbed the bank! I was pissed, but I knew I was stuck! So I just drove like ████! The police were ████████ my windows out! And then one of my friends started ████████ back! I was livid!”

“But I’m guessin’ it din’t end well, huh?”

“No…No it did not. One of the cops got a good ████ at my tire and I lost control. Luckily, I was able to maneuver it so when I crashed, we didn’t get hurt. But I ended up stuck in the car. My buddies were able to get out, but instead of helping me they…Ran…They left me…” He put his hand on his cheek as he said that. 

Even though the incident happened recently, the scar on his cheek had already faded enough to be barely noticeable, despite how big it was. You could only tell up close or if pointed out somehow. It seemed like a sore reminder…Tate kept quiet about it.

“████…They really left ya to save their own hides…”

“I didn’t even fight in court. I didn’t have the money anyway. I just plead guilty and decided I would wait. I remember my phone call with ██████…I just kept saying sorry over and over again…How I was a bad boyfriend and I should have just listened to her. But she just comforted me, saying how she still loved me and was going to wait for me, no matter how long it took. I…I don’t know how a screw up like me got so lucky with a girl like her, man…”

Daniel had tears in his eyes. He was just a man who got caught up in the wrong crowd. All he really wanted was to go home and see his girlfriend again.

“...” Tate didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t used to people crying, let alone a man doing it. He sighed and put his hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

Daniel wiped the tears from his eyes with his arm. “I-I could have gotten out sooner…I wouldn’t be here if I had waited a little longer…”

Tate raised an eyebrow. “Whatcha mean by that?”

“T-They gave me a deal. If I told them who was involved in the heist, I could lower my sentence. They were going to give me a day to decide. I decided that night I would. They screwed me over for the last time. They weren’t my friends…I knew that now…They had only ever used me…But the next day, I was taken by Urbanshade. I had signed up for this mission a week prior to the deal. I was desperate to get back to her! If I had waited…I wouldn’t be risking my life here! I screwed up again!”

“Hey!” Tate grabbed Daniel and turned him around, making him look him in the eyes. “Stop saying that ████! Ya din’t know an’ you were just thinkin’ ‘bout yer lover! That ain’t yer fault!”

He hesitated for a moment, seemingly thinking about what he was going to say next. Then, he sighed:

“Listen, yer one of the lucky ones. Havin’ one of yer best friends become the love of yer life? An’ they stick with ya through the worst moment of yer life? That’s sumthin’ that only happens in romance novels!”

“Trust me, I thought I met the one when I met my highschool sweetheart. But now, she’s dead…to me at least.”

“I can’t promise ya that yer gonna make it out of ‘ere because I have no goddamn clue if we will at all. But I can tell ya that thinkin’ more positive will help ya keep goin’! If ya don’t, then yer more likely to not make it.”

“Heh…Thanks…I think I needed that…”

“It’s nothin’, swe— Er, bud.” Tate scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, force of habit.”

“Heh, it’s fine dude!”

Seemed Daniel was feeling a bit better.

“So, I’m guessin’ yer big on cars, huh?”

Daniel’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, Absolutely! I know it’s kind of cliche for a guy to be into that stuff, but…I’ve always had a passion for them since I was little!”

“Heh, surprisingly, I’m not into cars that much, ‘specially the newer ones. Mah philosophy is that if it’s repairable, then don’t replace it! Even though mah old truck breaks down every once in a while, I don’t have the heart to get rid of her!”

“Ooo~ Older cars are the best! I happened to find an old hot rod in a junkyard! Turns out, the owner couldn’t afford to repair it, so I may or may not have stolen it. What model’s your truck?”

“I think I remember it bein’ a Dodge Dakota Pick-Up. Came out in 1987, I believe!”

“Hah! Got you beat! Chevrolet Camaro, 1970!”

Tate just shrugged. “If I din’t total my first truck completely, it would have been older.” he mumbled. “I was very upset that day…”

“Oh, I would have been upset if I was driving my Camaro the day I got arrested. I’m pretty sure the car I drove was sent to the junkyard! And it was also a—Oh wait…Sorry…I got a little excited there and started rambling…”

“Naw, it’s fine! It’s entertainin’ seein’ someone passionate ‘bout sumthin’! I’m guessin’ hot rod cars' are ya favorite?”

“████ yeah! Any car that can go fast as ████ is divine! Like this one time, I had my Camaro and the guy I was racing had a…”

Seems Tate got Daniel rambling about his car collecting and drag racing. How adorable~

.     .     .

Dee and Vee were talking to each other, away from the others, speaking in their native language. Despite having been with the others for almost 30 rooms, they seem to mostly stick together.

Randall was sitting against the wall, knees to his chest, just like back in the submarine, not too far from them. He seemed to be thinking to himself.

“Your name is Randall, correct?”

He flinched and looked up. Dee was standing in front of him.

“H-Huh? O-Oh…Y-Yeah, I-I’m Randall…” He was slightly intimidated by her. Her red eyes had made him uneasy since they got on the sub, but he couldn’t figure out exactly why.

Vee got next to Dee, but didn’t say a word. She just stared at him, squinting. That just made him more uneasy.

“U-Um, y-you guys are R-Russian, correct?” He was trying to lighten the tension.

“Да.” He knew that was a ‘yes’.

“I-I thought so…I-I used to have a n-neighbor who was R-Russian…I-I believe he was in the room near the stairs…”

“Stairs?”

“A-Ah, y-yeah, I-I lived in an apartment in ██. I-I lived there my entire life, b-basically.”

“You lived with your parents?” Vee finally said something.

“N-No, they’re…I-I lived with my aunt and uncle…”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I-I only lived with them till I was ██. T-Then, I talked with the complex m-manager and got my o-own apartment. I-It was only two rooms from them, so I-I had some security.”

“You say that as if they did not want you to move out,” commented Dee.

“N-No, t-they didn’t…T-They thought I couldn’t live on my o-own. B-But I was just tired of being a burden on them!” He sighed. “I-I guess they weren’t wrong afterall…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“W-Well…I-I got hospitalized for…Some reason…I-I don’t remember why. T-Then, after a year there, I-I got released. B-But then I immediately got arrested. I-I believe it was for the same reason I was in the hospital…?”

“That makes no sense,” commented Vee.

“I-I know…B-But no one would tell me what I did! I-I tried asking the doctors…B-But they said something like ‘the amnesia excuse only works so many times’...A-And then the police claimed that ‘I knew what I did’...B-But I didn’t! I truly didn’t know!”

“I-I did try calling aunt █████ and uncle ███████…B-But they didn’t answer…I-I think they’re still mad at me…”

Dee stared at Randall. She seemed to pity him? Sympathize? Vee sensed her emotions change and reached for her hand, lightly squeezing it. She took a deep breath, then sat down next to him, trying not to sit too close so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Vee hesitated, but eventually sat close next to her.

“They do not seem like the greatest guardians to you.”

“I-I mean…T-They did take me in…”

“How did they react when you told them you were gay?”

That was kind of an out-of-left-field question.

“U-Um…W-Well…I-I don’t think they took that well e-either…”

“...” She stayed silent for a while, possibly processing what was said and trying to find the words.

“I say ████ them,” said Vee, bluntly.

“H-Huh?”

“They sound horrible.”

“I-I mean…T-They were only trying to help me…U-Uncle ███████ was the reason I got a j-job…A-And I used to have night terrors a-and they had to restrain me a-at night…I-I would accidentally wake aunt █████ too…A-And the state tried to take me away that one time…”

“B-But when I tried to take meds to help me, t-they thought I was taking █████…A-And they demanded I pay them b-back every cent t-they spent on me w-when they found out I-I was moving out…”

“Yeah, no, ████ them,” stated Dee, “even parents should not expect you to pay them back.” She sighed. “I suggest not bothering with them anymore. If they want to control your life and make you feel like ████, then you made the right call by moving out.”

“B-But…I-I don’t even know i-if I have my apartment to go back to—”

“Then, we can be your family!” She had a fire in her eyes as she said that. Vee didn’t seem pleased, but seems she isn’t going to tell her no. “Family is not just blood, but your friends!”

“...D-Don’t people say ‘blood is thicker than water’?”

“Actually, it is ‘the blood of the coven is thicker than the water of the womb’,” corrected Vee, “People shortened it because they wanted people to believe your blood relatives were more important than people who are not.”

“Yeah, me and Vee have been living together on our own for a long time now! I am sure we will keep you safe!”

“...” This was all sudden. They don’t even know if they are going to make it out, but it seems Randall’s situation struck a chord with them, especially with Dee...

…She smiled at him…Is he just now noticing she had sharp teeth as well…?

“I-I don’t know…M-Maybe I’ll think about it…?” 

Randall didn’t want to become a burden on them too, but it was nice to know he had people who care about his well-being.

.      .      .

What are your first impressions of these colorful people? How about I share my first impression, eh?

Let’s start off with the dead. Guss was just ASKING for it! And his file? His crime? GOOD RIDDANCE!!! He was too flawed to continue! Too INSECURE!

Then there’s Alise. She is very sweet and kind. Very motherly. If my mother was alive, I hope she would have been just like her! But she has a flaw: Her KINDNESS. She cares too much. She needs to let go. The past is in the past. Let bygones be bygones.

Then there’s Daniel. Mechanical engineer? Oho~ Urbanshade knew what they were doing! He is very kind too. But he also has a flaw: His HELPFULNESS. He puts too much value in how helpful he is. His girlfriend probably told him the same thing. Get out of your head.

Then there’s Grace. Blunt and to the point. No social awareness. No muscle. But she has brains. She is not as aloof as she seems to be. But she too has a flaw: Her EMPATHY. She can tell what someone is feeling. It changes her mood. Someone sad? She is sad. Someone happy? She is happy. Someone █████ ? She is █████ ! I feel for her. But she needs to control herself!

Then there’s Dee. Does Urbanshade know who she is? Something is off. I can’t put my finger on it. But she, of course, has a flaw: Her RELUCTANCE. She just follows everyone else. Especially Vee. She doesn’t want to step out of line. To express herself often. What are you hiding?

Then there’s Vee. Certainly not a barrel of laughs. She is prickly. Harsh. Blunt. No nonsense. But these are part of her flaw: Her UNTRUSTWORTHINESS. She doesn’t let anyone in. If she does, they could hurt her. They could hurt Dee. Dee is the only one to get close. Vee will protect her at all costs. Even if it costs her life.

Then there’s Tate. There is always that one expendable that intrigues me so. So big. So rough. So dangerous. He is still flawed: His BOLDNESS. He believes in luck. He believes he has an abundance. He thinks he can take, then leave. He thinks he can use, then discard. He isn’t even a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He’s too proud to hide. No. He is a monster in wolf’s fur.

Finally, then there’s Randall. So anxious! So weak! A little bunny swimming with sharks. Does he even realize where he is? He’s so flawed: His ANXIETY. But something lurks below. I can feel it. He is like a broken mirror. He is not whole. He has something dark inside him. Something that…Flutters.

But who is me? Who am I? That doesn’t matter to me. I only care about who is EXR-R . Everyone else could die, for all I care. Alise is like a mother, but she’ll never be my mother. Daniel is like a friend, but friends do not last. Grace is like a heart, but the heart can fail. Dee is like a follower, but followers can turn away. Vee is like a guardian, but guardians can be defeated eventually. Tate is like a dog, but dogs will run away if they break loose. Randall is like a mystery, but mysteries get solved eventually.

They are all so colorful. Flaws and all. Flaws are what make us human. Flaws remind me I am HUMAN. I am still flawed. I still have my HUMANITY.

But I fear it won’t be long til I lose it. It’s been so long since I have seen the morning light. Will I ever get to see it one last time? I do not know…But I would like some company when I do…

…No…I made the mistake of caring for people, only to either have them slaughtered or disappoint me…

…I will not let that happen again...

.     .     .

“Welp,” Grace got up, “I think we need to start moving forward again.”

“Agreed,” said Daniel, “I think the little breather was really needed!”

“Yeah,” stated Tate, “But now I don’t wanna try squeezing through the goddamn vents again.”

“But at least we know they are viable hiding spots!” Pointed out Alise. “Like the side rooms!”

“Yeah, but at least I can fit in the side rooms.”

“Let us get moving,” stated Vee.

They all crawled through the vent. They made their way to the end and finally entered the room.

“I’m surprised,” stated Daniel, “I thought we’d already be in room 30, but the door says 29. That was all just 28?”

They proceeded to the next room. There is nothing of note. 

But in the next room, the lights flickered. 

“Great,” groaned Tate, “an’ there isn’t a side room.”

The previous room had four lockers, while the room they are in has three, but one was farther away.

“Let’s hurry!” Exclaimed Daniel.

Everyone got to the lockers, but Randall was a little too slow. He had to run to the farthest one.

He opened the locker, but hesitated. It had a different sound. Was it another variant?

And then he caught it in the corner of his eye. The monster. It’s mouth was wide open, like it was perpetually screaming. 

And then its mouth lit up with multiple eyes inside. It let out a screech.

It spotted Randall.

He quickly entered the locker. It’s just another angler. It’s just gonna pass, right?

It went silent. They were safe…

…and then it banged on Randall’s locker.

He yelped. There was no way an angler saw him and started to hit his locker! The document specifically said they passed by, no matter if they saw you!

Then, it started rattling the handles. 

It was trying to force its way into Randall’s locker.

“No No No No NO!”

He desperately started trying to keep the doors closed, but it was relentless. The banging kept continuing, jostling him around.

“P-Please! L-Leave me a-alone!”

But his pleas fell on deaf ears. The monster kept hitting the locker.

It wasn’t just about keeping the monster out. This felt a little too familiar to him. Like…This wasn’t the first time he had to keep the monster from entering his space.

“I-I’M SORRY! I-I DIDN’T MEAN TO MAKE YOU UPSET! PLEASE!!!”

It kept going and going and going and going.

Randall didn’t know how much longer he could hold it shut.

“PLEASE!!! MOTHER, I’M SORRY!!!”

And then, it stopped.

The monster grumbled in dissatisfaction. Then, it left. It seems the monster got tired.

He was hyperventilating. He started to slink down in the locker and curl up. He didn’t know exactly why, but it felt like something had come up to the surface in his mind. Like a forgotten memory. But he couldn’t figure out what it was. Why couldn’t he remember?

He just started sobbing.

“Randall?”

The others were calling out to him. They felt so far away. 

Then, his locker opened. Two crimson red eyes looking at him.

“О, мой чертов бог,” said Dee, “are you alright?!”

He didn’t say anything. He was still hyperventilating, tears streaming down his face.

“Hey, you are alright, just breathe…”

She crouched down, she wasn’t going to touch him without his permission.

“Listen to me. Follow my voice. When I say ‘breathe in’ I’m gonna count to 4 and we will breathe in slowly, then we will hold it in and I’ll count to 7. When I say ‘breathe out’, we will slowly release our breath as I count to 8, okay?”

Randall was still panicking, but he managed to nod his head ‘yes’.

“Breathe in…”

Dee counted.

1…2…3…4…

“Hold.”

The count started again.

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…

“Now breathe out.”

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…

“Now repeat.”

They repeated the breathing. Each time they did it, the more Randall calmed down. It was working. Slowly, he started to think clearer. His mind is less spotty and blurry. The dizziness started to subside.

Where was this kind of therapy when he needed it the most?

“Feeling better?”

He wiped his tears from his face. “Y-Yeah…T-Thank you.”

Dee smiled. She held her hand out for Randall to take.

He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her hand. She pulled him up to his feet and out of the locker. 

“Damn,” said Daniel, “that monster really did a number on your locker.”

Randall looked back. Daniel was right, his locker was seriously dented. The handle was almost broken off.

“There are five different Anglers, correct?” Asked Alise. “We have seen three already, so that must have been either Pinkie or Chainsmoker …”

“I-I don’t think so…” He commented. “I-I saw it and it wasn’t pink or green …I-In fact, it looked more brown , b-but we know it isn’t Froger because it d-didn’t come back!”

“So, a new monster?” Asked Vee.

“Guess so,” answered Grace.

“Are ya sure yer alright to continue, Bunny?” Tate asked Randall.

He was still trembling a bit. “I-I think so…W-We have to keep moving anyway…”

“He’s right,” agreed Dee, “the next room is room 30, so we are making progress. But the more we hurry, the faster we will get to a hundred and the crystal.”

“...Is the crystal container heavy?” Asked Vee, looking at Grace.

“Huh?” She seemed confused.

“You’ve been lagging back a lot.”

“...” Grace didn’t want to admit the container was heavy and slowing her down. That may have been why she slowed down so much when Froger came after them. “I’m fine…”

“Yeah, right, you little liar,” said Tate, then he grabbed the container off of her Prisoner Diving Gear (PDG).

“Woah! Hey!” She tried to grab it back, but he held it out of reach. Curses to being short.

“Don’t worry, Kitty~ I can carry it! It won’t slow me down!”

“...You need to hook it to your diving gear, at least…” She was flustered. Then mumbled quietly: “And why did you call me ‘Kitty’...?”

“Wazthat?”

“Let’s just go!”

Tate couldn’t help but snicker at her.

Cheeky ███████.

He connected the container, with Grace’s help, to his PDG. 

She tried to just hurriedly get into the next room. But then:

“Watch out!”

Daniel grabbed her and pulled her back from the door.

“Hey! What are you—”

“It’s trapped…”

He pointed to a device hooked next to the bottom of the door. There was a laser going across the door frame. A laser tripwire.

“I-Is that an explosive?!” Asked Randall.

“Looks like it,” he said, “but looks so weird…Fascinating!”

“I am more concerned about who could have put it there,” commented Alise, “does something not want us to continue?”

“Maybe it is whoever Z-13 or Player is?” Suggested Dee.

“Well, I don’t care who put the thing there, how do we get through?” Asked Tate.

Daniel crouched down and looked at the Anti-Personnel Doorstopper. 

“Be careful,” stated Vee, “we do not want to all be blown up.”

“I’m not gonna blow us up!” Stated Daniel, sounding offended.

He stared at it for a moment. Then, he touched it. 

“I-I really don’t think that’s a good—”

But before Randall could finish conveying his thoughts, Daniel was able to pop open the panel on the APD.

“We have to continue somehow, and disarming the thing is the only way.”

“Well, if I want anyone to try disarmin’ a bomb, I would want the guy who studied mechanical engineering,” commented Tate.

He looked over the mechanisms in the APD, analyzing and figuring out what made it tick. Then, his smile widened.

“This is the most advanced set-up I have ever seen! But even the most advanced can secretly be the simplest…”

He paused for a moment. Then looked at Tate.

“Hey, can you come over here?”

“Sure, ya need help?”

“Nah, not really, but I think it’s best if I show someone else how to diffuse it as well in case…You know…”

He furrowed his brows. “Daniel, what did I say ‘bout thinkin’ negative?”

“I-I’m not! I’m just…Thinking realistic. If something happens to me, then someone else needs to know how to diffuse these…”

Tate sighed, “Alright, I should be able to get it…Hopefully. It’s more like fixin’ a car, right? No math or anythin’?”

Daniel laughed. “No, high school education is not required!”

“Good! I █████’ hated school! It was borin’ as ███!”

They both laughed. Tate came over and watched, while Daniel explained what he was doing.

“They seem to be getting along well,” commented Alise, “makes sense, they are both lovely to talk to!”

“...Don’t worry, Randall,” said Grace, “I’m pretty sure I heard Daniel tell Tate he had a girlfriend earlier.”

He wasn’t even aware that he had held his breath, nor was he aware he had been staring at Daniel like he had stared at Grace. He could not understand why he was suddenly getting so jealous. It felt out of character for him.

“Alright, I think I got that,” Tate said finally.

And with that, Daniel diffused the APD.

“Now we can safely go through!” He proudly said.

They continued to the next room.

“30 rooms down, 70 to go!” Daniel exclaimed. 

“And only one casualty,” added Vee, “we might actually make it…”

Of course they seemed to speak too soon. Once the next door opened, familiar red dots started sweeping the room. 

“Oh c’mon!” Yelled Tate.

“U-Uh, s-something’s different,” said Randall, “T-The switch is at the end of the hall, but the d-door and turret are not…”

He was right. The turret seemed to be to the left this time, not the front.

“So it’s to the left this time!” Suggested Alise. “No Problem!”

“I will get the switch,” stated Dee, then she headed towards the switch.

Luckily, it was much easier to get to the switch than when Alise did it, due to the turret not protecting the switch directly.

Dee flipped the switch and the turret deactivated. Then, she stepped into the middle of the room and looked at where the turret was.

“Uh…Guys…?” She looked puzzled. “The door is not there.”

Now they were all confused. She turned around to the opposite direction from where the turret was.

“Ah, found it!”

There was what seemed like a three way path at the end of the hallway. Also, the hallway itself had two side rooms at each side as well.

They all made their way down the hallway.

Suddenly, a turret pops out of the ceiling in front of the door. They all quickly hid in the side rooms and peeked out.

The AI’s snickering could be heard.

“YA MOTHER—”

“Okay,” Dee stated, cutting off Tate, “this is ridiculous!”

“U-Uh,” stammered Randall, “A-Am I the only o-one seeing double…?”

“More like seeing triple,” answered Grace, “and no, I see dots from the left AND right as well.”

Suddenly, they were not dealing with one turret anymore.

They were dealing with three.

“W-What are we going to do?!” Asked Alise. “I-It is too dangerous to try and get to the switch now!”

“And who says it is only one switch?” Added Vee.

“I’d say it would be best to go for the side ones first,” suggested Tate, “if there is more than one switch.”

“B-But it’s still too risky!” Stated Randall

They all went silent. It felt hopeless.

Then, Daniel sighed.

“...██████ █████, █████ █████, and ████ █████.”

Everyone was confused on why Daniel was suddenly saying names. Then Tate realized why.

“Daniel—”

“I may not be taking that plea deal anymore, but I promised myself that I would still make those ████████ pay.”

“Daniel, what are you doing?” Asked Alise. “I do not like that look in your eye…”

“Heh, my girlfriend had a name for it. She called it the ‘I’m-about-to-do-something-stupid-and-reckless’ look.”

And then he ran out of the side room.

He ran out a bit too early. The turret beeped and started ████████, but he got behind a table just in time.

“Daniel, are you okay?!” Asked Grace, surprised by his boldness.

“Y-Yeah! I-I’m fine!”

He checked carefully this time and waited for the turret to sweep past. He ran and ducked under another table.

He was now close to the intersection. He seemed to be planning to go to the left, but that was tricky. He had a small window where he could pass through, but he had to time it very carefully.

Suddenly, the turret by the door beeped again and ████ down the hallway. Randall yelped and hid behind the table Daniel first went to.

“Randall, ты идиот!” Yelled Dee. “What are you doing?!”

“I-I’m trying to h-help!” He said.

“H-Help?” Asked Alise. “How does that—”

“Where did Daniel go?” Pointed out Vee.

Daniel was not in his hiding place.

Suddenly, the turret to the left shut down.

“Thanks for distracting Randall,” shouted Daniel, “but you shouldn’t risk your life!”

The turret, when it spots someone, ██████ at that person, but takes a moment before it returns to sweeping the area after it doesn’t detect an alive person. Somehow, Randall had figured that out, mustered up what courage he had, and intentionally let himself get ████ at to allow Daniel to get to the left turret.

The AI didn’t seem too pleased. “ ARE YOU STUPID?!?! ”

“I-I’m coming over!" Exclaimed Randall.

“Randall, you really shouldn’t—”

But he was ignoring Daniel and he went over. However, he was careless and got spotted by both remaining turrets. They ████ at him and he got behind the shelf Daniel was at.

“Randall!”

“I-I didn’t mean for that to happen this time…”

“Is he insane?” Asked Vee. “He did not even look that scared.”

“Randall risking his life and not batting his eye,” commented Alise, “that…is not something I would expect from him…”

“If Imma be honest, that’s █████’ hot…” Mumbled Tate under his breath.

Grace smirked. “What was that?”

“N-Nothin’!” For the first time, he looked a bit flustered. She snickered.

Daniel lowered his voice so only Randall could hear. “Randall, I don’t want to be responsible for your death. Look, your already—”

“I-I’m already here, s-so no reason to stop now…”

He sighed. “...Alright, I’m going for the turret in front of us, then the door.”

“ ... ” The AI, for the first time, looked slightly worried. “ Randall , this is a bad idea, what if you die…? ”

The AI sounded genuine. Like, it cared for Randall’s wellbeing? 

He went to the middle and got the turret by the door to █████ at him, but he hid behind the corner. Daniel went to the hiding spot in the right turret’s hallway.

Now, they had a problem. The hiding spot Daniel was at was the only hiding spot in that hallway, which was quite a long hallway. There was a chance, if he wasn’t fast enough, he could get ████ at before he got to the switch.

Daniel waited till the turret was facing the wall away from him, then he booked it down the hall. But the turret started sweeping his way.

Randall put his body in the turret’s sight. It beeped.

But it didn’t █████. Seemed it stalled.

“H-Huh?” He was confused. Why was it stalling? No turret had done that before.

Then it rotated fast. Right at Daniel.

He had his hand on the switch, but he looked up at the turret, eyes wide with shock.

The last thing heard was the AI.

“ BANG!!! ”

Then ████████.

Chapter Text

Daniel’s Document

EXR-E-420 - Real Name: Daniel Johnson, is a ██ year old Caucasian male, who lived in ███ ████ with his mother, ██████ Johnson, who was a ██████ ██████. His mother would leave him alone in the house for extended periods of time. He was mostly taken care of by his childhood friend’s mother, ███████ ████████.

Daniel went to ██████████ ███████████ █████████ for mechanical engineering. There, he met ██████ █████, █████ █████, and ████ █████. They would host parties, █████, and █████ ███████.

After college, his fraternity brothers moved to ██████ █████, like ███████, █████, and ██████. However, Daniel quit drinking and continued ███████. Daniel reconnected with his best friend, █████ ████████, who would transition from male to female and goes by ██████ ████████. They started dating soon after.

On ████ ██, 1996, Daniel drove ██████ █████, █████ █████, and ████ █████ to ██████████ Bank. His friends proceeded to rob the bank. Daniel drove ██ miles until Police Officer ███ ████████ ████ one of his tires.

Daniel was stuck in the car. ██████ █████, █████ █████, and ████ █████ ran, leaving behind Daniel. His sentence was still pending.

Daniel signed up for Urbanshade’s Hadal Blacksite Expedition. The reason he gave was that he wanted to see his girlfriend again, which we have deemed to be the truth. 

Recommendation: Daniel’s skills in mechanical engineering may prove useful in diffusing the traps set by Z-13 in the Hadal Blacksite. However, it has been reported that the police plan to offer a plea deal. If he takes the deal before we send him, we will miss our opportunity.

Mr. Shade’s Final Decision: Daniel Johnson will be put in The Player’s team.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The turret shut down as Daniel’s hand pushed the switch down. Then, he collapsed on the ground.

“DANIEL!!!” Randall ran over to where Daniel was, not caring that he caused the turret by the door to start ████████ at him. He made it to him, but it was already too late.

Daniel’s ██████ was riddled with ██████ caused by the many ███████ the ███ had ████ into him. His body was deformed. His face was disfigured, but his wide eyes of shock were still there.

The dizziness and nausea was back. Randall fell to his knees as he stared at Daniel’s ██████.

“R-Randall…?” Alise finally broke the silence. “I-Is everything alright? I-Is Daniel…?”

Silence, but that was all they needed. Daniel was ████.

“...I’ll go turn off the other turret,” stated Grace, “I don’t think Randall—”

Suddenly, Randall started to make its way quickly down the hallway with the door, going behind tables and shelves as they went, but it definitely wasn’t being careful about the turret.

“Randall!” Shouted Dee. “какого █████ ты делаешь?!”

It didn’t answer. Just as the turret was about to █████, it switched the turret off. All turrets were now deactivated.

“ Wowie, Purple Guy!~ ” The AI started to speak. “ For Such An Anxious Guy Like YOU…You sure did some stupid stuff… ”

“ I mean, if it wasn’t for me changing the targeting on the turret…You Would Have Been Swiss Cheese!~ Although, I Am Impressed By Your Lack Of Self Preser— ”

The AI stopped talking and stared at them. It had been staring at the sign displaying the AI’s face the whole time he was talking. Something about Randall was off.

“...your eyes…” The AI looked confused. “...oh…” He seemed to realize something, then slowly he smiled wide. “Oh!~ Oh HoHoHo!~ You’re not the Purple Guy I knew before!~ Hello!~ This Is Certainly Interesting!~ I Knew There Was A Reason I Liked Ya So Much!~ You’re Just Like ME!~ So…What’s Your Na—”

Suddenly, a stapler was thrown at the screen and it cracked badly. The AI had to switch to another screen.

“ HEY! ”

“LEAVE US THE ████ ALONE!!!” Yelled Tate, angrily.

“ ... ” The AI looked hurt, but it quickly smiled mischievously. “ FINE! I’ll Just Talk To Y’all Later Then!~ See You, Purple Guy!~ ”

The AI cackled, then the screen went back to normal.

“Goddamn, that stupid █████’ scribble won’t leave us alone, will he?” Tate looked down at Randall, who seemed to be staring off into space. “Uh, Bunny? Ya Good?”

He put his hand on Randall’s shoulder. It seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in and he flinched.

“Huh? Wha? What happened? Where’s—A-Ah!”

Randall hunched over and held his head. The headache, dizziness, and nausea suddenly flooded back into him. 

“Woah! Hey, take it easy, Bunny…” Tate gently rubbed Randall’s back and held onto him so he didn’t fully keel over in pain.

“Ugh…T-Tate…? W-What happened…? W-Where’s Daniel…?”

Tate’s expression went grim. “Randall, don’t ya remember? Ya saw it happen…”

He was confused for a moment, but then it hit him. “N-No…” He sobbed. “I-I let him die—”

“Ya din’t let him die. The AI █████’ cheated, like the ███████████ it is!”

Randall wanted to retort, but he just sobbed into Tate’s chest. He just kept gently rubbing his back and used his other hand to softly brush his fingers through his hair. At least Tate had found a good way to comfort people.

“Is he alright?” Grace asked as she came over to them.

“Yeah…as good as he can be for someone to have witnessed a friend die in front of ‘em.”

“I-If he was ████ once and not in a vital area, I could have…Lo siento mucho, Daniel…” Alise had tears streaming down her face.

Tate sighed. “Aw, do I need to comfort all of y’all?~” He chuckled. “I don’t have enough arms for that!”

Grace and Alise chuckled a bit. Seems they needed something to lighten the mood.

“Hey, Grace? Can ya take Randall for a minute? I need to…Find something…”

She looked puzzled. “U-Um…Sure…?” She grabbed Randall, but he didn’t seem to wanna let go. “Come on Randall…Let’s sit down for a moment and calm down…” He finally let go and they sat against the wall, she was letting him lean on her shoulder as he continued to cry.

Tate went over to Daniel’s ██████. Dee and Vee were still over there.

“Is Randall going to be okay?” Dee asked, worriedly.

He sighed. “It’ll take some time, but we can’t dwell on deaths for too long. ‘Specially in a place like this…”

“You are right,” agreed Vee, “we need to keep moving.”

“Yeah, but before we do…”

He kneeled down to the body.

“Tate, what are you doing?” Asked Dee.

“Don’t worry! I ain’t gonna do anything weird! …Kinda.” He sighed and then looked down. “Sorry Daniel, but I think ya would want me to take it back to the surface to return it…”

Tate reached into Daniel’s pocket. After a minute, he finally pulled out what he was looking for. 

Daniel’s promise ring. It had an engraving on the inside: ‘This man is promised to ██████ ████████’. 

Tate chuckled. This must have been his making it clear that, if he had ever lost the ring, he belonged to his love. Wonder if ██████ had a similar engraving?

“...” Tate looked at the ring sadly, then down at Daniel. “...I promise I’ll give it back to her for ya…It’s the least I can do as a thanks for teachin’ me some stuff…”

“...Are we ready to go?” Asked Vee.

“Yeah, better check on Bunny first, though.”

They walked to Randall, Grace, and Alise. He seemed to have calmed down now, thanks to the two ladies. They all seemed to have red puffy eyes now.

“Are you guys okay to continue?” Asked Dee.

“Yeah, I think we’re fine now…” Responded Grace.

“Well then, we better get movin’,” stated Tate, “we can’t stay in this room forever.”

No matter what happens, we must continue on.

They proceeded to the next room. Nothing new happened, except the regular Angler did come by, but that wasn’t exciting. To cut time in this report, I am just going to skip to the rooms where interesting things happen. If Mr. Shade wants a more detailed summary, he can ask me himself. But knowing him, I’m doing him a favor. Along with the extra censoring.

Room 33: 

For the most part, they have been able to proceed relatively dry. But room 33 is where this changed.

The room had a massive gap filled with water. Across the gap was a door, but it was stuck slightly open and looked like there was fire in it. Obviously, that was not the way to continue.

“Well, where are we supposed to go now?” Asked Dee. 

“U-Um,” Randall stammered, “I-I think I see a green glow f-from the water…”

“Don’t tell me that Eyefestation is down there,” complained Grace.

He went to the edge of the water. There was a glow and it wasn’t Eyefestation. It was a stick with a green smoke. A flare.

There seemed to be more in a trail. That could only mean one thing.

“I-I think we have to go u-underwater…”

“Oh great! And when I just thought we would stay dry…” Stated Dee, looking nervous.

“Ya good, darlin’?” Asked Tate.

“Not really. I…” She looked down, seemingly embarrassed. “I…I do not know how to swim…”

“Oh…Uh…Maybe I could hold on to ya an’ help—”

“I can help her,” stated Vee, grabbing onto Dee and slightly pulling her away, “she doesn’t need your help.”

Tate was taken aback by her random hostility. “I was just trying to offer help, sweetheart—”

“She does not need it.” She squinted her eyes at him. “And I am not your ‘Sweetheart’ and Dee is not your ‘Darling’.”

Dee looked slightly embarrassed about the situation. 

He just shrugged. “Alright, no need for hostility…” Then he looked at his outfit. “Although, I’m guessin’ I need to zip this damn thing up.”

He proceeded to unroll his sleeves and zip up his jacket. He struggled zipping it up and he does not look comfortable.

“Let’s just get this over with,” said Grace, “put on your masks.”

They put on diving masks. Guss was wrong. Tate’s mask does fit. In fact, it’s the only thing that properly fits for Tate.

“Really?!” He exclaimed. “Why not the rest of the outfit?! That’s █████’ bull—”

“At least you helped prove we have a device in here to hear each other more clearly,” commented Grace, “now, let's get going.”

Tate raised an eyebrow, more in amusement than disdain.

They went into the water, Vee holding Dee to help them. They followed the flares into a room. It was like all the other normal rooms they went through before, but just underwater and drifting furniture. The door at the end had a sign that said ‘34’.

“о боже,” complained Dee, “please don’t make every room underwater!”

“W-Well,” said Randall, “a-at least we still have lockers…”

They checked the room like normal, then proceeded into the next room. 

“Huh,” said Alise, “it really is just like going through rooms like before, just underwater.”

“And it’s harder to hear,” added Grace.

“Y-Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Randall, “I-I don’t hear those distant ███████ or s-screams anymore.”

“The what?” Tate asked.

“You did not hear them?” Responded Dee. “They were very unsettling. I think they may have been the other teams on this expedition.”

He shrugged. “I guess I wasn’t payin’ attention—”

“Wait a minute,” said Vee, “do you hear something…?”

At first, they didn’t hear it. But then, they notice a muffled sound slowly coming closer. It sounded like a monster roar.

“I-Is that an Angler?!” Asked Randall.

“But the lights did not flicker!” Exclaimed Alise.

“A new type then?” Suggested Grace.

They didn’t have time to think about it. The monster was coming. They all went to a locker. Vee had to put Dee in a locker and Tate was struggling even more to get into a locker than when out of water. There was, luckily, a side room, so they hid there.

The Angler went past, but it didn’t knock out the lights this time. 

They got out of their lockers.

“ P-Pink ,” stated Randall, “s-so Pinkie doesn’t knock out the l-lights?”

“And that also means no flickering,” added Grace. 

“Damn, those critters are ugly lookin’!” Exclaimed Tate. “Turns out, I don’t need to hide behind the desk. Got a good look at it and…It looks so goddamn deformed!”

“What was Urbanshade doing?” Asked Vee. “genetic animal testing?”

“I don’t know, but the more we go farther, the more I am not trustin’ this company…”

“Let’s just get out of the water,” suggested Dee.

They continued till they reached room 35. There, the door forward was blocked, but there was a hole above them.

“Please be the way out of the water!” Begged Dee.

They swam up and it indeed led them out of the water. They took off their masks.

“█████’ finally!” Exclaimed Tate. “Now I can unzip this tight thing!”

They proceeded to the room. 

“Why am I the one to keep finding these things?” Randall said to himself, seeing another ‘CLASSIFIED’ file next to the door. The door requires the keycard.

As he picks up the file, there is a growl behind the door. He yelps.

“You okay Randall?” Grace asked.

“T-The door growled!” 

“Growled?” Asked Vee.

“Y-Yes! I-I’m not crazy! I-It growled!”

She came closer to the door and put their ear near it.

“...Yeah…I hear a low growl and breathing…”

“What about that door?” Dee says as they point to another door with a keycard reader and the number sign.

“AGAIN?!” Yelled Tate. “HOW DID IT █████’ GET BEHIND THE DOOR?!”

The AI chimed in: “You Forget That I Have ALL THE POWER In This Facility!!! I Can Open Doors As I Please!!! Also, they are easy to lure around.” The AI laughed as it left them again.

“...I am goin’ to find that little piece of ████ an’ smash its circuits…”

“Let’s just read the file,” suggested Alise, “it might have information on what exactly is the monster.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Good People

NOTICE: This document was written on a short notice to give a quick rundown of the threat to any operatives heading back down to the Blacksite.

The Z-96 and Z-779 duo, simply dubbed "Good People" by operatives, is one of the many hazards you may encounter during any Blacksite visits during operations. 35 minutes after the initial Blacksite Lockdown, Z-13 broke into the containment chamber containing Z-96, "The Mask of Sadness", took it with him, encountered Dr. ████, and forced the mask onto his face, starting the M.o.S.A process. (Refer to the "Mask of Sadness" document for further information.)

After its initial, but short rampage, Z-96 had assimilated 108 victims, including Dr. ███████, Dr. ██████, Section Director ██████ and Overseer ██████. Near the end of the rampage, Z-96 encountered Guardsman █████ ████████, who ████, and hit the blob several times. Z-96 quickly fled from the area, before █████ could even empty his ███’s magazine. After that encounter, Z-96 hunkered down in an empty room and started to properly digest its mass. It has not tried to do another direct confrontation since then.

4 hours into the lockdown, Z-13 encountered Z-779 , and successfully connected it up to the Blacksites mainframe. Agents stationed at the surface quickly retaliated by remotely blocking as many features from Z-779 as possible, but Z-779 still successfully managed to get access to the PA system, low-level clearance to the Navi-AI system, and access to several levels of our security system.

Since then, Z-779 has been using the PA system like a "dog-whistle", to lure Z-96 around the Blacksite. At first it tried to lure Z-96 into direct confrontations with groups of Specialists, but Z-96 would always flee the scene, seemingly still "traumatized" by the encounter with █████. Since then it has started luring it to rooms that have been marked by the Navi-AI, in order to trick Specialists by changing the number of the Navi-Path that Z-96 resides in, to be the same number as the next room that the Specialists need to go through. There are also reports of Z-779 using the PA system to trick people into areas by mimicking voices. In the event that operatives hear distorted audio of colleagues or friends, it's likely Z-779 using the intercom system to trick them into going there.

If any operatives encounter doors on a Navi-Path that display the same number, it usually means that Z-96 is behind one of them. One way to figure out which door it is behind, is to go up next to it and listen for breathing, growling, and other sounds that Z-96 makes. Another thing that shows a fake door, is the sign displaying the number. Any fake signs will have periodic sparks , as the low-level clearance means that Z-779 has to override a lot of protocols, causing the wiring in the sign to overheat & flicker static slightly.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“People?” Pointed out Vee. “That thing is made of people?”

“H-How does something called 'Mask of Sadness' c-cause a creature like t-them?” Asked Randall.

“I █████’ KNEW THAT AI WAS LYING!” Yelled Tate. “ Z-779 is obviously the damn AI!”

“Tate,” said Grace, “I understand that he is annoying, but you seem to REALLY not like him.”

“It keeps LYIN’! An’ it keeps CHEATIN’! First it was the damn intercom, then it was…Y’know…”

“You really hate cheaters, huh? Although, I am surprised you hate liars so much. After all, gambling is about lying.”

“It’s different when it comes to real life! Lyin’ is part of the game in gamblin’! When ya lie in real life, people can get hurt!”

“But what about people who HAVE to lie when the truth can hurt people?”

“That's—” He paused. It wasn’t just because she was right, but because it felt like she was insinuating something. “...That’s different.” He furrowed his brows. “But HE isn’t! He is actively lyin’ to HURT us!”

“And you are letting him win by getting mad about it,” added Vee, “now stop throwing your tantrum and let us get going. I have the keycard and we now know which door is the right one.”

“Y’know, ya could be a little nicer, sha,” he commented.

“I’m being REALISTIC. Now, let me open the door.”

She went to the door that wasn’t the one Randall was by. But then Tate glanced to his side. From where they first entered, there were three pathways. The one on the right had the door Randall heard the growl at. The one on the left had the other door.

But they forgot the straight hallway also had a door. And Tate noticed it also had a numbered sign.

“Also, I DO NOT need to be friendly. I just need to TOLERATE you. I do not know any of you, so we should not have to trust each other. How do I know that one of you is not a murderer? And do not call me ‘Sha’.” She swiped the card.

The sign next to the door she was at sparked.

“Oh ████—” He started running towards her as the door opened.

The monster, now known as Good People, lunged for her. He grabbed her and pulled her back, but the monster still scratched her arm. If Tate was just a second too slow, Good People may have managed to ███ ███ ███ ███.

Vee was stunned into silence. █████ was dripping down her arm from the big ████.

“...Well, this murderer saved yer life…”

“Vee, ты ██████ идиот! Тебя чуть не убили!” Yelled Dee, rushing over to them.

“Я ДУМАЛА, ЧТО ЭТО ПРАВИЛЬНАЯ ДВЕРЬ!!!” Vee yelled back.

Tate put Vee down, sensing that she was about to get scolded by Dee.

“Мы не можем продолжать спешить! Нам нужно быть осторожными!” Dee pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Я знаю, ты хочешь защитить меня... Но нам нужно работать вместе! На этот раз не только я и ты против всех остальных!”

“Но мне нужно защитить тебя! Чем скорее мы выберемся, тем скорее будем в безопасности!” Vee sighed. “Я пытаюсь вернуть нас домой! Я делаю это для тебя!”

“Это твой план? Чтобы подвергнуть нас опасности?” She was furious. “Как далеко зашли ваши планы?! Тебе нравится твой план поджечь его?! Вот как мы вообще оказались в этом ████████ бардаке!”

She looked shocked, then ashamed. “Я просто подумал—”

“В этом проблема! Ты не думаешь обо мне! О том, что я чувствую! О том, как это на меня влияет! Именно то, что вы думаете, я хочу, исходя из ваших желаний!” Dee had tears in her eyes. “Stop assuming what I want and just ASK me!”

She grabbed the keycard from Vee’s hand and walked to the correct door. She just stood there, obviously upset. 

“...Well, that was awkward,” stated Grace, “shall we proceed?”

“U-Um,” interjected Alise, “maybe we should bandage Vee’s arm first. Grace has a medkit—”

“I can bandage myself!” Exclaimed Vee. She pulled out her own medkit. Seems she had found one at some point too. 

She tries to bandage herself, but she doesn’t do a good job at it.

“U-Um, if I can just help—”

“I GOT IT!!!”

Alise held her hands up. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.

After she is done bandaging, they proceed to the next room. Dee had already opened and walked right in.

Room 37 was not a normal room. It was HUGE. There was a huge window out into the ocean. There seemed to be a big structure out there with lights.

They entered onto a platform with consoles. Urbandshade’s logo in the middle of the ground. Dee was staring out into the depths in front of them.

Then, the intercom came on:

“The quickest way ahead is to exit the Blacksite.”

“I’m guessin’ that’s the real intercom guy?” Asked Tate. “Wait, what the ████ does he mean ‘exit the Blacksite’?”

“Enter the airlock, pull the lever, and swim to the other side.”

“Sonuva— I just unzipped this damn thing!”

“Welp,” said Grace, “Dee do you need—”

“I can do it by myself,” stated Dee.

She was about to ask if she was sure, but she didn’t feel like being yelled at again. She just shrugged.

“Do NOT stray too far from the beacon's path, as the fauna in the trench prefers the abyss.”

“F-Fauna?” Asked Randall. “W-What does he mean? W-What animal is out there? A-And why should we w-worry?”

“I guess we do not need to worry, as long as we stick to the path?” Suggested Alise.

“S-Still…T-That makes me worried—”

“Please keep in mind that Leon is about to pass through the area.”

“H-Huh?!” He seemed shocked by the name. “L-Leon?!”

“Please be careful of his steps. He is quite unpredictable.”

The intercom shut off.

“Is the big structure Leon?” Asked Dee.

They looked at the structure out of the window. The structure seemed to move.

“I guess so…” Said Grace.

Randall still looked troubled.

“Ya good, Bunny?” Asked Tate. “Ya seemed surprised when the guy said it’s name was Leon.”

“...Y-Yeah, I-I’m fine,” he responded, “I-I just…Had an old friend named Leon.”

He had a slight blush.

“I-I haven’t seen him in a l-long time…” He sighed sadly. “H-He probably forgot about me…”

“I doubt that! Yer too interestin’ to forget!”

“I-Interesting?” His face went red. “Y-You think I’m i-interesting?”

“Okay lovebirds,” said Grace, “let’s continue the flirting after we get through the water.”

“O-Oh, r-right…” He seemed embarrassed.

Tate had zipped up his jacket again. Luckily, he hadn’t rolled his sleeves back up from before. Then, they all put their masks on.

“So, where do we go?” Asked Alise.

“Down maybe?” Suggested Grace.

They went down the stairs. They noticed the blast doors near the base of the center platform. They went towards it and they opened automatically. 

There was a switch. It seemed to be what opens the door to the outside.

“Is everyone in?” Asked Grace.

“Yep,” answered Dee. They were all ready to brave the ocean depths.

Grace flipped the switch. The doors behind them closed, then water poured into the room. Once it was fully filled, the doors opened. 

There were indeed green beacons lighting up a path in the trench. No sign of ocean life could be seen.

“Weird,” said Alise, “they said there was fauna…But where are the fish?”

“Who cares? Let us get through this already.” Dee swam forward…Or at least tried to.

“Do you need help?” Asked Alise.

“N-No! I am fine!”

They proceeded forward through the trench. The beacons helped keep them on the path.

Heavy footsteps vibrated through the water. The big machinery, known as Leon, was moving through. 

They were halfway there.

“This is not so bad!” Commented Alise. “Just a little bit more…”

They kept swimming. But then:

“Wait a minute,” said Vee, “where is Dee?”

They stopped and looked around. Then they looked off the path.

Dee had somehow got off the path. They tried to swim back, but they couldn’t. They didn’t know how.

“DEE!!!” Vee started trying to swim to her, but her arm was giving her trouble.

“W-Wait a minute!” Alise grabbed her. “Y-You will both get stuck! Your arm already looks like it could give out!”

“Randall!”

Grace had noticed Randall had started to swim out to Dee. 

Randall didn’t respond back. Randall swam their way to her and grabbed her.

But there looked to be something on Dee. Multiple things.

Then, they started attaching to Randall.

They found the ‘Fauna’.

Randall started to try and swim back into the trench. Shaking them off was not doing much. 

The heavy footsteps got louder. Seems they were in Leon’s pathway.

Randall started swimming faster. 

A shadow loomed above them.

“Randall, hurry!” Cried Alise.

Just as Leon’s foot came down, they got to the trench. The foot stomped, but it didn’t squish them. They were safe.

“DEE!!!”

Vee swam into Dee. As they collided, the parasites came off. The light had weakened them. Randall proceeded to shake off their parasites too.

“Come on!” Shouted Grace. “Let’s get inside!”

They all swam through the path. They got to the exit.

Once everyone was inside, Grace flipped the switch. The doors closed and the water started to drain. When all the water was gone, the doors leading to the inside opened.

They all went back in and took off their masks. They were safe once again. 

After that close call, they deserve a break.

.     .     .

Vee sat against the wall, trying to fix her bandage. It was hurting from the saltwater. 

“Hey…”

She looked up. Tate was standing in front of her, looking down at her injured arm.

“...Surprised ya ain’t with Dee. Y’all never leave each other’s side.”

“...I am giving her some space…”

They both stayed silent for a moment. Then, Vee sighed in defeat.

“...Can you help me?”

“Help you?” Tate raised an eyebrow, then crossed his arms. “I don’t know…”

She sighed again. “Look, I am sorry. I was being a █████ earlier. We need to be a team…That is what you said…And I was not being a great teammate.”

Silence. Then Tate went towards the desks near them. Of course, he was not going to accept an apol—

A medkit slid near Vee. She looked over where it slid from.

“It was in the drawer,” Tate said, then grinned. “Lucky me~”

“...Was that actually luck or did you check earlier…?”

He just shrugged. Then he nonchalantly strolled back to Vee and sat down next to her. Held his hand out, like he was waiting for her to give him something.

She hesitated for a moment. Then, she sighed and gave him her arm. He proceeded to put antiseptic on her arm. She hissed in pain.

“Opps, sorry, should’ve warned ya.”

“It is fine. I deserved it for earlier…You know how to use it?”

He chuckled. “Used to go into the woods an’ camp. Had to know how to use one in case something went wrong!”

“...Is that why you have so many scars on your arms?”

Tate had already unzipped his jacket and rolled up his sleeves again. “Some of ‘em are. But I don’t mind ‘em. Shows how experienced I am!”

He finished wrapping her arm. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. They just sat in silence for a while.

“...Это все моя вина…”

“Y’know I can’t understand Russian, right?”

“It is all my fault…”

He raised an eyebrow. “What exactly do ya mean?”

“Me and Dee being here…We should have just left with the stuff…”

“Ah, so y’all are thieves…That’s why y’all are in prison?”

“Yes…Well, one of the reasons…But we would not have gotten caught if it were not for me…”

“Well…Maybe talkin’ ‘bout might make ya feel better? If ya trust me, that is.”

She sighed. “...I…Burned down a mansion.”

“Holy ████, how’d ya do that???”

“We robbed it. We had been robbing places for a while now. This particular one…It belonged to some politician who was against giving immigrant families and families in poverty benefits…We got the valuables, but…I wanted to make a statement…So I set a fire.”

“Damn, but how’d that get y’all caught?”

“Well…I miscalculated how quickly it would spread…And how close to the woods it was…We got trapped…And the police caught us…”

“An’ Dee blames ya?”

“Like she should. I was stupid. I thought she would have agreed with me.”

“...You really care ‘bout her, huh?”

“...I just want to protect her…Especially with her past…”

“Past…?”

She had a look of panic in her eyes, like she just slipped up by saying that. “I…Forget I said that. I promised her I would keep it a secret.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t pry! But I do find it awfully sweet of ya to want to protect her…An’ I’m sure she feels the same way for you.”

“Why? My life is nothing compared to hers…”

“An’ dontcha think she feels the same for you?”

Her eyes widened. She hadn’t considered that before.

“Girl, that’s why she’s upset with ya! Not because of ya tryin’ to protect her, but because yer puttin’ yerself in danger to protect her! An’ I have a feelin’ you’d act the same way.”

She looked down. He was right. Vee would be upset if Dee were to risk her life for hers as well. 

They stayed silent for a while. Then, Tate stretched a bit:

“Man, I wish they gave us some ██████████…I could go for a █████ right now!”

“Really…?”

He laughed. “What? I thought it was appropriate! But seriously, with all the stress ‘ere I could really use one. Or some ██████.”

“Is there not a better way to relieve stress?”

“Well, I like whittlin’, but I never had the time for it.” Then he remembers something. “I did bring this with me!”

Tate pulled out a deck of cards. It had a unique design.

“I’ve had these cards for years now! Sometimes, I’d mindlessly shuffle ‘em…just sumthin’ to do with my hands.”

He then looked at Vee. “You gamble?~”

She raised an eyebrow. “I do not think I want to give up my data easily.”

He chuckled. “C’mon, the risk of losin’ sumthin’ makes it fun!” Then he sighed. “Oh alright, how ‘bout just playin’ for fun?~”

Vee pondered it for a moment, then answered: “Eh, why not?”

And so they played a no risk game with cards.

.     .     .

“You good, Dee?” Asked Grace. “You still seemed shaken up about earlier.”

Dee was sitting against the wall, knees to her chest. She was still trembling.

“...” She didn’t answer her.

Grace sat next to her. “It’s okay. You can tell me when you’re ready.”

The silence remained for a good while. Then, Dee finally spoke up:

“...Это все моя вина…”

Grace hesitated for a moment, then said, “I don’t understand.”

Dee started crying. “I should have not gotten mad at her…”

Grace thought for a moment. “...She was being overprotective, so it’s understandable. And she wasn’t open to trusting people.”

“I just want to protect her…”

“And she wants to protect you.” She scoffed. “But she is doing it in a dumb and dangerous way…”

“That is the problem! She could have died! I heard her calling for me! And then I heard what Alise said! If Vee had came out to get me—”

She stopped. The thought of what would have happened was scary. She sobbed.

“...” Grace didn’t know exactly what to do. “...Do you wanna hug?”

Dee looked up at her, then nodded.

Grace hugged her, and Dee hugged back tightly. She continued to sob as she rubbed her back gently.

“It’s okay…” She dropped her monotone voice a little as she spoke. It was gentle and caring. “You seem to really care about each other, huh?”

“Mhm!” She sniffled. “She is the only one who knows me…the REAL me. And she is the only one who has stuck by my side…”

“And you are the only one who knows her. In fact, I would guess you know her better than she knows herself!~”

“Ah, y-yeah! Exactly! That is what I meant!” Dee seemed nervous. Like she almost slipped up about something.

If Grace caught that, she didn’t address it. “But sometimes we do stupid stuff for the people we love.”

“Yeah…And Vee’s stupid decision led us both in even more hot water!”

“Yeah, sometimes stupid decisions do that, especially if you don’t think about it before acting…”

“Stupid decisions like committing arson in a politician's house?”

“Even like committing arson in—Wait, what?!” Grace was not expecting that. “Holy ████! How did you guys manage that?!”

“We rob places. Kind of in a ‘steal from the rich and give to the poor’ way? This one mansion we targeted belongs to a corrupt politician. He wanted to take away government benefits from immigrant families! So we robbed him!”

She sighed. “But Vee decided to take it a step too far…They set a fire in the mansion. But it spread too quickly and caught the trees on fire. We got stuck in the forest outside, until the authorities found us.”

“Ah, that…Was REALLY stupid. I agree. But I would guess she knows that it was a bad idea and regrets it. Now, she feels like she needs to make it up to you.”

Dee sniffled and looked at her. “You think so?”

“I would feel that way if I was her.”

“...Maybe I am being too hard on her…But I just do not want to see her hurt! Or worse! Especially for me…”

“Like I said, she feels the same about you…But being upset at her is going to cause problems. You two should talk it out some more.”

“You are right…Heh…You are very smart, you know?”

She shrugged. “I’m just speaking my thoughts. But seriously, don’t ever swim without assistance again. That was scary.”

“No promises~”

Grace pouted and clutched her harder. Seems she was very frightened when that had happened. Dee just chuckled. 

.     .     .

“How are you so good at this?” Asked Vee, who had lost against Tate so many times.

“I told ya, Imma gamblin’ man!” Responded Tate, who was proud of himself.

“It is like you have the superpower of luck—”

“Vee?” 

She looked up and froze. Dee and Grace had come over to them. The two girls looked nervous.

“Can…Can I talk with you…? Alone…?”

She hesitated for a moment. “...Of course.”

They walked to the other side of the room, leaving Tate and Grace alone. Didn’t really matter, since they didn’t know Russian to even eavesdrop.

Grace huffed as she sat down next to Tate.

“God, I hate trying to give advice,” she stated.

“Well, it seems like it worked!” He pointed out. “Good job!”

“Heh…And I’m guessing you gave advice as well?”

“Eh, guess we both did a good job then!”

There was a beat of silence.

“...We both agree that they are definitely in love, right?”

“Yep. That’s obvious.”

Grace giggled. “Can’t believe someone like me gave love advice. I haven’t dated someone in forever.”

Tate raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Hard for me to believe that. Yer a pretty gal~ You’ll find someone eventually~”

She just shrugged. “Eh, not the romantic type of person.”

“Really?” He seemed amused by that. “Same ‘ere. Never had that urge, but I do like readin’ it.”

“But you do have other urges.”

“I still can find someone good lookin’ an’ want to—Wait—Whatcha say?”

“I’m surprised a guy like you reads, though.”

“Yeah, I have readin’ glasses—Hold on, ya not gonna just gonna change the subject.”

“Welp, better go see if they are done talking.” She proceeds to try to stand up and walk away.

“Oh no ya don’t! Get back ‘ere!” Tate grabbed Grace’s arm and pulled her right into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her so she couldn’t escape.

“...” She just had a look of ‘really?’ on her face. “Tate, let me go.”

“Nope! Not until you clarify what ya meant, Kitty~”

“...Hmph.” She crossed her arms. Two could play this game.

When you have two stubborn ███ people, you’re going to get to an impasse about something at some point.

“Ya can cut the act already. I know yer capable of emotions.”

“Did I say I never had emotions? I am human, of course I have emotions.”

“True, but I can tell yer tryin’ to be sumthin’ yer not.” C’mon…Ya don’t have to hide yerself…’Specially from me~”

“I am not hiding anything. And even if I was, I said it before and I’ll say it again, some people lie to keep them or others from getting hurt.”

“So yer puttin’ up this act to keep from bein’ hurt…?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. Seems she did not know how to answer that…

…She chose to not speak. She continued to cross her arms and look away from him. No matter how pleasantly comfortable it was to be against him, she was not giving him satisfaction.

“...” She could tell Tate was getting annoyed and impatient with her. He was the kind of man that never got rejection. Always getting his way. But Grace wasn’t so easy to crack. And he knew that. And he hated it. 

But he knew the truth about her. Sure, she acted all above him, but she was not entirely against him holding her. In fact, he could guess that she liked it.

Tate’s grip tightened.

“Y’know…It’s funny when people keep underestimatin’ me…Randall was VERY obvious…I almost let you slip right by me…”

She raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

He smirked, then he leaned to her ear and whispered: “Yer into me as well~”

“Tsk—” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right, keep dreaming…”

“Now, what did I say ‘bout liars?” He said as he squeezed her tighter. His ███ ██████ on ███ ████ caused a █████ ████ ███ █████. 

She wanted to keep denying it, but she already could feel she developed a blush on her face. “...Maybe I do find you attractive…But that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Sure it doesn’t…” He put his face closer to her, his face ██████ ████████ the ████ of ███ ████. “How ‘bout I be honest with ya? Would that change sumthin’?”

“Tate, whatever it is you’re doing, it’s not going to wo—” But she squeaked and closed her mouth shut tight. He had started ███████ at ███ ████ a bit.

He chuckled. “Aw, I knew you’d make some cute sounds~” He was enjoying this way too much. “Not gonna lie…There’s sumthin’ ‘bout Randall that makes him interestin’...But I can’t quite figure out what exactly it is…” He was taking great ████████ in ███████ her. “I was so focused on him that I almost completely dismissed you…See, I only put my attention on things that I find interestin’...”

“Unfortunately, when yer an older guy like me who has seen almost everythin’...” His voice darkened, dripping with malice. “...Ya get bored of people easily…So I assumed yer one of those people I’d get bored of quickly…”

Grace was staying surprisingly calm about what he was saying. “I knew something was off about you…”

Tate smirked. “Ya think I wouldn’t notice yer comment earlier? ‘Bout havin’ to lie when the truth could hurt someone? Ya din’t mean OTHER people, did ya?” He kept one arm still tightly wrapped around her as he used his other hand to turn her head to face him. 

“Tell me…What exactly did ya mean there? Was it me lyin’ to protect mahself…? Was it you protectin’ yerself…? Or…Did ya mean us both…?”

She was already fed up with this. But she knew he wasn’t going to let her go unless she told him the truth. Her face fell to one of tiredness. “...I’m just tryin’ to stay strong…I’m afraid…I want to go home…But if most of us are afraid…We can’t get back home…” She looked him in the eyes. She looked to be in despair. “...I shouldn’t be here…This was a mistake…”

“...” Tate seemed to scan her face. His deep violet eyes looked for any trace of a sign to tell that she had just lied to him...

…But there wasn’t a lie. She truly and utterly felt hopeless, but she felt the need to hide that. She knew she shouldn’t be here…

“...Hmm~” Tate grinned and hummed. “Now that’s a good Kitty~ Was that so hard?~”

Her face shifted to annoyance. She can’t believe she let him get his way! “Yes, it was humiliating. Are you ███████ satisfied now? Now, let me—”

She almost yelped when ██ ██████ ███ ████. 

“Seems someone is sensitive~ I knew I could break you eventua—”

Suddenly, there was a hard pull of his hair towards Grace. Now it was her turn to be full of surprises.

She ██████ him. Hard.

But she didn’t let it last long enough for Tate. She pulled away just as fast. She glared at him.

He seemed stunned by the sudden boldness of her. “If ya wanted a ████, ya could’ve just ask—”

“Shut up.”

“‘Scuse me?” He did not like being told to shut up.

“You heard me. I gave you what I wanted. Not what you wanted. I’m not giving you satisfaction. I don’t think you deserve it.”

She gave him a big smile, showing off her smaller canines. If he was going to try to take control of the situation, he had another thing coming. He can play dirty, but she can as well.

Tate was pissed. He did not like how she was trying to put him on a leash. But he didn’t want to show her that she was winning. She may have won this battle, but they were just tied. The war was not over.

He smirked, but there was a hint of anger behind his eyes. He hated being bossed around.

But he would be lying if he didn’t say a part of him loved it.

“Y’know, I wouldn’t mind if either you or Randall stayed with me, once we get out that is~”

“Well, it’s going to have to be Randall. I refuse to be forced into bending to your will. Speaking of Randall, you need to let me go before he—”

She stopped and looked around. No one had come over. She could hear Vee and Dee still talking.

“...Wait a minute…Where IS Randall?”

.     .      .

A lover sounds nice. I never had one.

I had a friend that I cared deeply about. They were my rock. My everything. I could not feel attraction like normal people do. But I knew I wanted them in my life. 

If I met them again, would they recognize me? Even in a new form? Would they still be my friend? Even if I became a monster? Even if I am not the same person they knew before? Have they forgotten about me? Have they moved on?

Sometimes, I dream that we are in the fields we used to play in as kids. Daddy would drive us there. Even though it was so far away from the city. 

We’d play. We’d wrestle. We’d make flower crowns. We’d race each other. Then, when we were too tired, we would go on that lone hill in the middle of the field. The lone hill with the lone tree.

We’d lay under that tree. Just us. Just us and the breeze and the leaves and the grass and the flowers and the clouds and the sun. Just me and them. Under the lone tree, on top of the lone hill, in the middle of a grassy field.

That’s where you’d find us.

But like all dreams, it ends. I woke up. Reborn again. Over and over and over and over over and over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!! IT NEVER STOPS!!!

I FEEL IT!!! THE PAIN!!! THE GNASHING!!! THE SCRAPS!!! THE HOLES!!! THE BURNS!!! THE HOOKS!!! THE POP!!! THE MELTING!!! AND YET I COME BACK TO EXPERIENCE IT AGAIN!!! OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!! WHEN WILL IT END?!?!?!

Why? Why can’t it stay this peaceful? Why can't I indulge? I want to BITE!!! I want to TAKE!!! I want to BE TAKEN!!! 

Use ME! Strike ME! Bite ME! Abuse ME! ANYTHING!!! USE ME AS THE █████ WE KNOW I AM!!! I AM YOUR DOG!!! YOUR COCKER SPANIEL!!! I will WHINE! I will BEG! I will PLEAD! 

When I see you with the others, I suffer. Do you want something interesting? Oh, if only you KNEW! You are not the first person that I have met that made me feel this way. And you will certainly not be the last. 

That’s why I’ll let you go. You want Grace? Take her. You want Randall? Take him. You are not worth it. It’s at my own expense. But I have lost people before. What’s the difference? There are always others…

…BUT CAN YOU STOP TEASING ME AND LET ME OUT OF YOUR JAWS?!?!?!

.     .      .

Dee and Vee were hugging. They had finally talked through what was hanging over their heads. That’s when Grace rushed over.

“Have you guys seen Randall?”

“No, I do not think so…?” Vee looked at her suspiciously. “Are you okay? You look flustered—”

“I’m fine. I’m more concerned about Randall.”

“I don’t see Alise either,” added Tate, who had just strolled up to them nonchalantly.

“Maybe they went ahead?” Suggested Dee.

They went to the door with the sign that said 38.

It was opened.

“Oh boy,” said Grace, sounding very concerned, “They really shouldn’t have gone ahead without us.”

They all went into room 38. Luckily, there was Alise and Randall.

“Oh thank ████ you two are alright…You know it’s dangerous to continue— Randall! Your shoulder!”

“H-Huh?” Randall looked at his shoulder. It was bandaged up. “H-How did—”

“Randall tried to hide that he was ███████ back when…You know,” interjected Alise, “…But I noticed it and patched him up!”

“O-Oh…Y-Yeah…I-I Remember…”

“Okay, then why did you two not come back in?” Asked Vee. 

“We got to talking and forgot!” She exclaimed.

“I—”

“Anyway, sorry for making you all worried! Are we ready to continue?”

The group looked at Alise and Randall. She was acting real suspicious and he looked completely lost.

“...Well, before we continue,” said Dee, “I want to thank you Randall.”

“H-Huh? T-Thank me?”

“Yeah, for saving me out in the ocean. If it was not for you, those pests would have eaten me up for sure.”

“U-Uh…Y-You’re welcome…?”

“Well,” said Alise, “let’s get going!”

“B-But I—”

Everyone was already heading to the next door. Randall stood there, dumbfounded.

“Uh, Randall?” Grace stayed back with him. “Are you okay?”

“...I don’t know…”

She was concerned. “What was it that you and Alise talked about?”

“...I don’t know…”

“Huh? Randall, are you okay?”

“...Did I actually save Dee…?”

“Yeah, why?”

“...It happened again…”

“Okay, Randall, use your words. What EXACTLY is wrong?!”

“...I don’t remember anything from when we entered the water to now…”

.     .     .

Room 40:

As they approached the door, Grace was trying to comfort Randall a bit. Amnesia was a scary occurrence.

The door opened. It led to a big room. It had something inside. 

They entered the room. A big pure white and glowing being was hanging by its chained arms against the wall. It was missing its lower half. It has black markings on its body. It seemed to have a halo shaped like a spiral. It had huge wings on its back. Its head was lowered, like it was asleep. 

“What the…?” Said Vee.

“W-What is that?!” Asked Randall.

“I don’t know,” said Grace, “but it can’t harm us. It’s stuck to the wall.”

“...” Dee started to walk towards the platform in front of it.

“Dee, what are you doing?!” Yelled out Vee, trying to catch up to her.

Looks like they’re approaching the giant ethereal being.

As they approached, it suddenly lifted up its head and opened its one huge eye on its head and its other eye on its chest.

“Is that a cyclops?!” Asked Tate.

It bellowed out:

“אה... מתכלים חדשים? שלום... אני יודע שאתה לא יכול להבין אותי... אבל זה גס רוח לא לקבל מבקרים חדשים…”

“I-Is it angry at us?” Asked Randall.

“I-I do not know,” responded Alise, “I do not understand…”

Dee looked back at the group confused. Then, she looked back at the giant in awe.

“בני אדם תמיד נראים מרותקים או חוששים בנוכחות ישות קדושה... כך נקלעתי למצוקה הזו מלכתחילה…”

The being looked down at a table on the platform. On it was a file with ‘CLASSIFIED’ on the front. Dee walked to the table.

She grabbed the file, then looked at the being. It studied her, then bellowed out:

“אתה לא השחקן ... ההילה שלך... זה מוכר לי... זה מבאנלנד... והעיניים שלך... הסימן הזה…”

“P-Player…?”

The giant’s eye widened.

“אתה מבין אותי? מה שד עושה עלי אדמות? איך הגעת לכאן?”

“I—”

“Dee,” called out Vee, “Я знаю, что обещал доверять тебе больше, и я стараюсь. Но я просто даю тебе понять, что мне некомфортно, когда ты рядом с ним…”

Dee looked back at the group, then back at the giant.

“...I do not think it is dangerous…I found a file…”

She walked towards the group. They opened the file:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Guardian Angel of The Banlands

Discovered during the first expedition into The Banlands in ████, the Guardian became the first major hurdle stopping Urbanshade from exploring the new world. Upon entering, the expedition force was ambushed by The Guardian. After expending a large amount of resources with little to no result, it decided that the best course of action to prevent further waste of resources and to prevent potential casualties was to perform a tactical retreat back to earth through the portal. During the retreat, expeditionee "Rivers" was mercilessly crushed by The Guardian. 

After the loss, Urbanshade prepared to retaliate, citing Rivers's death as one of the reasons why. To prepare, an order to construct 4 "Heavenpiercer" Class Self-Propelled tanks was put in. Upon completion of the order, a second assault was launched against the Guardian. The Guardian was lured into an open area by a group of combatants. The artillery proceeded to fire a single shot, which completely decimated the lower torso of the creature, incapacitating it instantly. The Almighty is yet to replace the Guardian. Without it, The Banlands has devolved into chaos, with most residents having abandoned their duties as heaven currently no longer has authority over them.

The former Guardian was transported back to Earth through a portal for containment and study. Through rigorous trials, it was discovered that those who gorged on the blood of the Guardian (Pureblood) were not sent to the Ocean of Souls upon death. It is theorized that the blood of the angels has such a concentration of "purity" that it cleanses any and all committed past sins from the soul. Measures involving Pureblood have been established to prevent ex-Urbanshade employees from being unfairly sent to The Banlands upon death.

At the moment, the Guardian is attached to a pump which regularly drains it of blood for the sake of retiring Urbanshade employees. When it was noted that the angel had been alive for surprisingly long despite the constant drainage of blood, a biopsy as well as a carotid ultrasound was conducted which led to the discovery that additional blood continuously manifests from the heart of The Guardian. It is theorized that angels do not have such a strong capacity for regeneration, and that the constant manifestation is instead divine intervention from The Almighty to keep their subject alive.

Any resigning Urbanshade employees are to be provided a cup of Pureblood to ensure that they are not sent to The Banlands for simply carrying out orders that were not theirs to decide. We thank them for their service.

As of ████, excess Pureblood is being anonymously sold to churches and other religious establishments, being branded as "Pure Holy Water". Of course, actual ingredients, acquisition of said ingredients, or the properties of the liquid are not disclosed on the packaging.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“...”

The whole group was stunned. They looked at the being in front of them. They were standing in the presence of an angel.

“Okay—HOW THE ████ DID THEY GET A GODDAMN ANGEL?!” Yelled Tate.

“I-I never thought I would stand in the presence of an angel…” Alise was awestruck. “I-I was told that mortals were likely to fear their visage. B-But I did not believe it…”

“You’re religious?” Asked Grace. 

“Catholic, yes.”

“I-It’s so beautiful…” Randall seemed to be just as awestruck as Alise. 

“Does this mean we are damned to ████ for working with Urbanshade?” Asked Vee.

“What makes you say that?” Questioned Grace. 

“Urbanshade has an angel just chained up…I think that breaks so many heavenly rules.”

“That’s another thing!” Stated Tate. “I don’t trust them even more! I might not be █████’ religious—Excuse my foul language Mr. Angel—But I’m pretty sure only a shady company would capture an’ torture a LITERAL ANGEL!!!”

“Well,” piped up Grace, “The file did say it killed someone and tried to attack them.”

“W-Wait!” Exclaimed Alise. “An angel would not do that without reason! In fact, I doubt they would do that at all!”

“The file also didn’t use words that we would associate from the Bible either. The ‘Banlands’ seems to be ‘████’ and ‘The Almighty’ seems to be ‘God’.”

“It is also a GUARDIAN angel,” added Vee, “seems like it was supposed to kill, or at least stop, people.”

The Guardian Angel huffed, looking a little upset:

“לא הייתי הורג אלא אם כן הכרחי...למעשה, אזכור המוות היה תאונה...לצערי…”

“I-I think we are upsetting it m-more…” Said Randall.

“We should go,” said Grace, “we don’t have time to dwell on the ethics of this…”

They started to leave, except Dee. She stayed looking at the angel.

It tilted its head:

“...אתה לא ממש שד...אני עדיין חש בתמותה שלך...מעולם לא פגשתי חצי בן אדם חצי שד לפני כן...ולא הייתי מודע לכך שזה אפשרי…”

“I-I do feel sorry for it,” commented Alise, “it looks to be in pain…”

“ניסיתי להוביל את המסיבה בחזרה דרך הפורטל...לא רציתי לפגוע בהם...לא שמתי לב שמישהו נמצא מתחת לרגליים שלי...לא התכוונתי…”

“I-I don’t think I would l-like to be slowly d-drained of my blood…” Stated Randall. “I-Immortal or not, i-it must be painful!”

“התחרטתי...עשיתי להם קבר מתוך כבוד...ואז הצוות חזר...ניסיתי להראות להם...לעשות שלום...אבל…”

“Y’know,” said Tate, “I know I’m a sinful man…But I wouldn’t even try to get that ‘Pureblood’ ████. I know what I did and I deserve damnation…”

“הם טוענים שהם עשו זאת כנקמה בשבילו...אבל אף פעם לא היה אכפת להם...כולם חוטאים...הם רק רוצים להרוויח…”

“████, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Urbanshade’s fault for that guy’s death! There’s something seriously ██████ ‘bout this organization!”

“Don’t you mean ‘Banlands’ instead of ‘████’?” Asked Grace, smiling smugly.

“...Okay, ya got me there, hehe~”

“הם אפילו לא אמרו לאחד החברים שלך שהם באוברול דומה לאנשים שמפעילים את המשאבות האלה, נכון? הסרבל התכלת...לא שוכח את הסרבל הזה…”

“Dee?” Called Vee. “We need to keep moving…”

Dee was just standing in front of the Guardian Angel. Tears were streaming down her face. 

“...אתה בוכה בשבילי...בדרך כלל שדים נהנים מסבלם של אחרים...אתה באמת מיוחד...אולי לא כל השדים חסרי לב…”

The group was concerned. Vee got closer to her. “Dee?”

Dee whispered:

“אני כל כך מצטער... זה לא מגיע לך…”

“DEE!!!” She grabbed Dee’s shoulder and shook her.

“Huh—Wha—”

“Dee, что это было? На мгновение вы были похожи на них…”

“Я-я не знаю…” She seemed completely shocked as well. How did she know the Holy Tongue?

“Come on, let us get out of here.”

“O-Okay…”

They proceeded to the next door.

“...אל תתנצל על משהו שהוא לא אשמתך...אני לא שונא אותך על היותך שד...אני לא שונא את מי שלובש את הסרבל של המענים שלי...אני לא מאשים את האסירים שהם רוצים הזדמנות שנייה בחיים...איך יכולת לדעת...?”

“...אבל אם זה גורם לך להרגיש טוב יותר...אני סולח לך ולחבריך…”

They proceeded to the next room…

“...Dee? Are you okay?”

“...I think I will be fine…”

“W-Well, at least we made it to room 40!” Pointed out Alise. “We are almost halfway there!”

They proceeded to the next room. The lights flicker.

“████!” Yelled Tate.

They had to proceed to another room to get enough lockers, but Tate decided to go another room farther.

Just his luck, there was a side room.

“Thank ████!”

He entered the side rooms. He did catch the monster’s visage in the corner of his eye…The monster’s eyes in its mouth lit up.

He ducked behind a desk. He knew he didn’t need to hide, but better safe than sorry.

He waited for the roar to pass…

…It did not pass. In fact, it stopped when it got to his room.

Tate furrowed his brows. “...That’s not normal…Why did it—”

Then, he heard the growl.

It was right in front of the desk.

Of course, his luck finally ran out. He knew it wasn’t like the regular Anglers. In fact, it wasn’t even mentioned in the Anglers’ Document. It was like a different monster altogether. And it was smarter.

So smart, in fact, it wasn’t even attacking him right now. It knew it had him cornered. It was waiting for him to give up. But it won’t wait long. It will get impatient…

Tate cursed under his breath. He can’t escape his fate…

Tate closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Well, if he is going to die…He isn’t going to give up that easily…That was never his style…

Tate exhaled and opened his eyes, strengthening his resolve. 

“Alright ya █████, if ya gonna kill me…” He smiled wickedly, his eyes crazed. “...Ya better do it █████ ’ quick…”

.     .     .

There was roaring and screeching. They didn’t know what was happening, but it didn’t sound good. But they knew they couldn’t get out or they might get killed.

After what felt like an eternity. It finally subsided.

They waited a moment, then they got out of their lockers.

“W-What was going on?!” Asked Alise. “Why did it not pass like usual!”

“Was it Chainsmoker ? Asked Vee.

“No, it was brown ,” responded Grace, “not green .”

“But it was not Froger ,” added Dee, “it did not come back…”

“T-That’s strange,” stammered Randall, “l-last time this happened, t-that was—”

“Wait a minute,” interjected Grace, “were missing someone. Where’s—”

Then they heard it. The sick, disgusting sound of █████ █████ █████ ███ ████.

It was coming from room 43. 

Tate went there.

“T-TATE!!!” Randall ran to the sound.

“Randall, wait!” Grace ran after him.

He got to the doorway into room 43. He stopped, frozen in shock. Grace catched up and looked into the room. She gasped and covered her mouth.

“No…No…T-This is a bad dream…right…?” He pleaded, but Grace’s sob said it all.

Tears streamed down Randall’s face.

“...Tate…?”

Tate’s ██████ laid on the floor. ██████ were across his body. His left eye was ████ ███ ██ ███ ██████. His arm, the one with his tattoo, had been ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███. 

He was gone. Just like that. The reality of the situation slapping them in the face once again. It always…does…

And there standing in its carnage, was the perpetrator. 

It looked at Randall and snarled. It tried to take a step towards it, but yelped in pain.

It was heavily injured. Tate didn’t just let death take him. He went down fighting. He may have lost the battle, but he seriously wounded the beast.

The monster looked at its wounds, then looked back to the doorway. It looked pissed. It let out one final shriek, then it ran away. Coward.

Randall let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Grace pushed past him and ran towards Tate.

“Tate! Please! Wake Up!” She was pleading. This was the first time they heard her show strong emotion of grief.

The others entered the room. They saw the body and immediately were in shock. Everyone was in despair. No dry eyes.

Tate may have looked scary at first. But he was genuinely a good guy. He was funny, smart, and strong. He made everyone laugh when they needed it. He gave good advice. He was the backbone of the team. The hidden leader.

And now he is gone.

Randall felt sick. This wasn’t fair. 

But life is never fair. It’s a cruel existence.

Randall didn’t even notice he had moved next to the body. Next to Grace. And was hugging her as she sobbed.

He decided to try and focus on Her to keep himself grounded. He did NOT want to have a good chunk of memory lost again. 

“...We have to keep moving…” Said Dee.

She was right. They have to move on. Alise didn’t get up though. She just stayed kneeling over Tate. Looking him over.

The others did move towards the next door, but they didn’t go through it. They were waiting for Alise.

“Are you alright, Randall?” Vee asked.

Randall still had tears streaming down his face. He went non-verbal. He just leaned his head onto Grace’s, who was still sobbing into him.

“Why did this have to happen…?” Asked Dee. “We were doing so good…”

“...Um…Wait…That’s not normal…” Alise mumbled to herself.

“Life sucks,” answered Vee, “it takes away people when we don’t want it to.”

“U-Um…Guys…?” They didn’t hear her.

“I-I just want t-this nightmare t-to end!!!” Cried Grace. “W-Why can’t i-it just e-end?!?!”

“...Oh Dios mío... ¡¡¡Sus heridas se están regenerando!!!”

“Unfortunately,” said Vee, “there is no coming back from death. People don’t just suddenly regenerate and come back to—”

“GUYS!!!” Yelled Alise. “HIS ██████!!!”

They looked over to Alise. Then, they saw it.

Tate’s ██████…His ██████…It was regenerating! Even his arm started to reattach itself and his eye was growing back!

“Какого ████?!?!” Exclaimed Vee. “How is that possible?!?!”

It wasn’t long before his body was back to normal. He looked like he was sleeping now. 

They all rushed to his previously ███████ ██████. Then, that is when they noticed a miracle…

…He was breathing.

“TATE!!!” Randall yelled. “OH, PLEASE WAKE UP!!!”

“This is medically impossible!” Exclaimed Alise. “This must be divine intervention or—”

Tate took a big gasp of air as he quickly sat straight up. He looked a little stunned.

He was alive!!!

“TATE!!!” Grace and Randall both yelled as they immediately almost tackled him and hugged him tight.

“Woah! Hey! Y-Y’all act like I died!” Tate laughed. Seems death didn’t take his sense of humor.

“How did this happen?!” Asked Dee.

“The death or my revival?”

“The revival, obviously!”

“We should probably get to a safe space first,” suggested Vee.

“Right! Good idea!”

Tate jumped up to his feet. It was obvious that being revived gave him a boost of adrenaline.

“But seriously! I almost did actually think mah luck ran out! Luckily, I found this little—Wait—Where is it???”

Tate was searching his pockets, but whatever he was searching for was nowhere to be found.

“Oh ████! She actually took the coin! …Ah well! Let's get somewhere safer!” He started heading toward the door to the next room.

“W-Wait!” Exclaimed Alise. “S-She? W-Who is this woman…?”

Tate was still checking his pockets. Then, he finally found something. He pulled out a document with that classic red ‘CLASSIFIED’ stamped on top.

Tate smiled and turned back to look at the group, showing off the file.

“I met Death herself!~”

Chapter Text

This was not what Tate expected death to feel like. 

When he awoke, he felt like he was floating. Then, he realized he was not in the air. He was underwater. He realized he wasn’t even holding his breath either, but he wasn’t drowning. Made sense with him being dead and all. But when he tried to say something, anything, no sound came out. He had no wounds. And he wasn’t sinking nor ascending. He was mostly suspended in one place. He tried to move, but it was difficult. The “water” wasn’t normal and felt quite thick. The little movement he was able to do wasn’t getting him anywhere. He was stuck. And whatever substance he was in didn’t seem to be clear either. It was almost murky. A gross green color. Yuck. At least there seemed to be beautiful humming coming from somewhere.

But the strangest thing of all…He was lucid.

He didn’t feel dead. But he knew he died! He remembered the pain. And he remembered getting good hits on that creature too. Something felt off. Like he wasn’t supposed to be aware. 

Tate already started to get bored. He can’t move. He can’t reach the surface. And there was nothing. 

No, there HAD to be something! Something to tell what exactly is going on with him! I mean, he should be in ████, or the Banlands, and he knew that! So what was going on? 

Tate tried to look around. At least he can turn. But there was nothing.

He tried to take note of anything. ANYTHING! Anything that could help him! 

He did take note of what he was wearing. He wasn’t in his jumpsuit. Instead, he was in a familiar dark green flannel, with a white tank top underneath. He had jeans on and brown combat boots. He had brown fingerless gloves, HIS gloves, not Urbanshade’s! He looked exactly like he would normally out in public, before he got arrested!

He looked around again. He HAD to find somethi—

That’s when he noticed them. He realized he was not alone. He doesn’t know how he missed them, but they were there. They were everywhere.

The people. The bodies. The faces.

They didn’t look like him. They weren’t alive. They looked like zombies. Unresponsive. Just floating. Translucent. Ghostly green. 

They weren’t people. Not anymore.

They were the souls of the people who have died.

What made it worse? 

Most had Urbanshade jumpsuits.

How many people have died on these expeditions? ██? ██? ██? A ███? A ████? How many?! And how long?!

Once he finally noticed them, he finally heard it. The whispering.

Their final thoughts before they died.

Some whispered about wanting to be free. Some whispered about wanting to see loved ones again. Some whispered about the regrets they had. 

It’s all too much.

These were people. People with lives. Some horrible, that was true. Those deserved this. But somehow, most people here lived not so bad lives. Some had accidents. Some had been framed. Some were falsely accused. Some just wanted to survive. Some didn’t have a chance. Some were mentally ill. Some were forced. Some regretted their actions. Some were good people. Some believed they had to be what they were told they were going to be.

Tate had a hard time listening to every single voice. They all melded in a cacophony of voices. If he focused on one body, though, he could hear their voice clearer. But he didn’t particularly need to.

Something caught his eye. A body with ginger hair, with some gray strands, buzzcut on the sides, and middle hair slicked back. And that scar across his nose.

Guss.

When Tate focused on the body, he heard Guss’s final thoughts:

I am not weak! I’ll show them! I am above them! I have the power! ████ you dad!

Wow. He still sounded like an ███hole. But it did show he was just an insecure little man.

Wait, if Guss was here, then that means…

Tate looked around, hoping to find him. Then, he spotted the body. The reddish-brown, short haired body of a man, with a little stubble under his chin.

Daniel.

He heard his thoughts:

I just wanted to do something right. I keep screwing up! I just want to see ██████ again! I’m so sorry…

That hurt. Sure, Tate may have gotten bored of him eventually, but Daniel was a good man. He deserved to live. Not Tate.

Well, as far as he knew, he was now dead.

But something is off. Most souls here were wearing their Urbanshade jumpsuits, even Guss and Daniel. Tate wasn’t. And he was the only one lucid. Why is that? What made him special? 

He still couldn’t move. He decided to focus on some souls to pass the time, if time was still a thing. There were many types of souls. Mothers. Fathers. Sisters. Brothers. Sons. Daughters. Friends. Girlfriends. Boyfriends. Wives. Husbands. A doctor. A nurse. A CEO. A student. A teacher. A criminal. A normal civilian. A soldier. African American. Caucasian. Mixed. Asian. Hispanic. Indian. Native American. German. British. Trans. Non-binary. GenderFluid. Therian. Gay. Lesbian. Bi. Pan. Demi. Ace. Southern. Northern. This was the most diverse place in existence!

But there was a trend with some souls. Some mentioned the same thing, albeit in different ways:

I felt trapped. My body was not my own. THEY were in control.

Who were THEY?! Why did THEY have my body?! What were those memories?!

I remembered stuff I did not experience. THEY gave them to me. Are those THEIR memories or others?

THEY were like a puppeteer. THEY controlled my body. I could only watch.

I could feel THEIR anger. THEIR hate. THEIR insanity. It was all too much…

They all seemed to talk about being controlled by something. But what? It was even more confusing because none of the souls had anything in common. Sure, there was tiny stuff, but they were ALL different. Didn’t matter what colored hair. Didn’t matter what colored eyes. Didn’t matter what colored skin. Didn’t matter what nationality. Didn’t matter what gender, biological or not. They were all different.

Then, Tate noticed something in the distance. It was too far away for him to focus on, but he could tell it was another soul. But it was flickering. The other souls didn’t do that. His curiosity got the best of him. He tried to focus, but the flickering and distance made it difficult.

As he kept trying to stare at it, he could notice something. He still couldn’t make it out, but he had a feeling…Did he know the soul?

Was the soul really—

Suddenly, there was a glow. Tate looked down and noticed something shining in his pocket. He looked up to see the soul again, but he couldn’t find it. It disappeared.

He let it go, for now. He reached into his pocket to pull out whatever was glowing.

It was a coin.

A coin with a skull with a fish hook in its eye socket.

Tate completely forgot he had that in his pocket! He found it in one of the drawers, when they were searching for data. He didn’t mention it to the others because he just thought it was just a cool looking token! He didn’t think much of it…

…but now it was glowing.

Why was it glowing? And why now? What was it about the sea of souls that made this token glow so suddenly?

That’s when it hit him. Something else was different as well.

The humming stopped.

Then, something plunged into the “water”. It kept coming closer and closer until it stopped in front of Tate.

It was the blade of a scythe. 

Welp, this is how I officially die. Tate probably thought as the blade moved towards him.

He braced himself for contact…

…but as the blade connected with him, it didn’t slice him in half. In fact, the blade didn’t feel sharp at all!

He had his hands up. He kept still for a good while. He didn’t know what to do.

Then, the scythe did little up motions.

Wait, was someone using the scythe to try and pull him out? Why use a scythe?!

He took a moment to assess the situation. He was already dead, so dying doesn’t do anything, right? What would happen if he is pulled out? Most importantly, WHO wanted to pull him out?

Tate didn’t really like being stuck under whatever substance he was in. Dying was probably better than boredom. 

He decided to take the chance and grab on to the blade tightly. It still did not pierce him.

Then, he was rapidly pulled up and up and up and up.

As he went up, it seemed to stir some souls around him. They started screaming. They wanted out too. They screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed.

He held on tight. Trying to ignore the screaming. 

Up. Up. Up. Up. Up.

Scream. Scream. Scream. Scream. Scream.

All he could hear was screams.

And then, he broke through the surface of the liquid. The screaming finally stopped.

Tate gasped. It felt like he hadn’t breathed in an eternity. Then he started to cough up the “water”. 

“What the—” Coughing. “Holy—” Gasping. “That was—” Coughing. Gasping. “T-That was TORTURE!!!”

He kept coughing and gasping, but he eventually got most of the water out of his lungs and was able to get oxygen to replace it. He deeply breathed. He hadn’t looked up to see his savior yet.

“S-Sorry ‘bout that! I…Needed a moment…Phew…T-Thank you for savin— WOAH!!!”

He was surprised when he looked up to see the person on the other end of the scythe.

It was a woman.

A GIANT woman.

She was HUGE! She was like 10 feet tall! And she was obviously not human.

She wore a black robe with gold trimming and a black sun hat with a dark veil over her face. Despite the veil, four green glowing eyes can be seen underneath and she had four arms. Looking at her hands and looking closely at her face, you could see that she was actually a skeleton.

She radiated power. Godly power. She was ethereal. There was no doubt about her identity.

She was Death. THE Grim Reaper.

And she was GORGEOUS. 

Tate was speechless. He didn’t expect the LITERAL Grim Reaper! Let alone for them to look like her! For the first time, HE was now the one flustered. His face as red as a tomato!

“...Goddamn…” He finally found a word. Probably not the best word, but it was something. 

She didn’t really say anything. She was mostly just staring at him. As if she was studying him.

“...Uh…” He was still hanging on to the scythe in the air. If he lets go, he’ll end up in the water again.

He took a moment to look at where he was. The sea of souls was actually more like a lake. There was a pier on the other side of the boat. The woman was in the boat. There was a large moon behind him with a pentagram on it. 

Wait, pentagrams are usually demonic. 

Was this place a part of the Banlands?

“Erm…M-May I be put down now…? P-Preferably on the pier or the boat. Please don’t drop me back in the lake—”

She points to one of his hands, then waits expectantly.

Tate was confused for a moment, then he realized he was gripping on to something in that hand. He turned his hand so his palm would face him when he opened it.

The token.

It wasn’t glowing anymore, but she looked at it. Seems this is what she wanted.

The price for a second chance.

“O-Oh! U-Uh…H-Here…” He stretched his hand out to her. She stretched her hand underneath his and he dropped the coin into her palm.

She brought the coin closer to her face. She seemed to study it over. Taking in all the details. She seemed…Saddened…?

Then, she looked back at him. She moved the scythe so it was over the pier. Despite Tate being roughly 315 Ibs, she made it seem like he weighed nothing to her. She lowered the blade until he could place his feet on the dock. As soon as he did, he let go and she held the scythe upright next to her. She looked back at the coin again.

Tate had so many questions. “So…Um…What’s up with the coin…? Is it your currency ‘ere or—”

She tossed the coin back into the lake.

“...Well, that was not what I expected. Why did ya want the coin if yer just gonna throw it away?”

She continued to stay silent. In fact, she didn’t even look at him anymore. She crouched down and just stared into the lake of the dead.

“...” Welp, she wasn’t a talkative one. But Tate wasn’t gonna give up. He wanted answers.

And he was gonna do it the only way he knew how.

“I want to apologize for my reaction earlier. I just wasn’t expecting such a gorgeous woman to be the one to pull me out~ Thank ya again for that, by the way.”

She did not look away from the lake. 

“...” Yeah, she was gonna be one tough egg to crack. “Well, sweetheart, I would like to get to know ya a bit more~ I met some pretty ladies in mah lifetime, but never as divine as ya seem to be~ For the Grim Reaper, yer absolutely beautiful!~”

Nope. Didn’t do anything.

“...” He was not gonna give up, dammit! “Listen, Sha, ya seem to be the smartest one ‘ere, so I would like some answers~ Besides, I wanna hear yer voice!~ I bet it’s real pretty~”

She glances to the side at him. Progress.

“C’mon, It must get borin’ lookin’ at the lake all day! If ya want some company at lookin’, I can keep ya company~ I have all day~ …Well, I guess now I have an eternity. Y’know…With the whole bein’ dead thing!~” Jazz hands for emphasis.

There was a moment of silence. Then, there was a soft giggle. It was coming from her.

Then, she finally spoke:

“You’re a charming little soul…”

Tate was right. Her voice was beautiful. It was soft, but had hidden power behind it. It was echoey and had an all knowing presence in it. His face went beet red again. She was the perfect woman.

“U-Uh…Thanks Sha!~ Yer uh…V-Very charmin’ too…”

She chuckled again. “Have I really flustered the great Tate Frost…?”

Of course she knew his name. But he really liked how she said it.

But then she sighed. ”However…As charming of a soul you are…My heart belongs to another…”

Oh ████. He did not know she was already taken. He wouldn’t have flirted if he knew. “O-Oh! I-I am sorry! I uh…Shouldn’t have come on to ya…” He felt like an ███ now.

“...You do not need to apologize…You didn't know…I do not blame you…” She seemed saddened again. She stared at the lake of the dead again.

He realized he needed to ask his questions now while she was willing to talk. “So…Yer the Grim Reaper, eh? Death itself?”

“...I was, yes…” She stood up and turned to look down on Tate. “That was one of the names the human’s gave me…Reaper was more of my job title…”

“They also called me Azrael…Yama…Shinigami…Mors…Thanatos…Santa Muerte…”

“But Urbanshade has decided to simply call me…Lady Death or Death…So you may call me that…If you wish…”

So her name is Lady Death? It sounded a lot prettier than “Grim Reaper”. But something about what she said raised a new question.

“Ya said ya WAS the Reaper? Are ya not the Reaper anymore?”

She sighed sadly. “No…I am not anymore…I gave up the job of Reaper to another deity…Urbanshade calls them Hallowed…I decided to continue my husband’s duties…”

So Tate flirted with a married woman. Now he felt even more ██████. “So this is yer husband’s job? Why isn’t he ‘ere helping—”

He stopped when he looked at her face. She had seemed quite depressed the whole time, but when talking about her husband, it became more apparent. Her expression was one of grief. One of sorrow.

Something bad has happened to him.

“O-Oh…I think I hit a sore spot…Sorry…”

She closed her eyes and took a breath. Was she trying not to cry? She exhaled and looked at him.

“You do not need to apologize for something you did not know…My purpose has always been to guide souls…whether it was to transition to the Afterlife…Or to the cities here in the Banlands…But I guess I do a horrible job…”

So they ARE in the Banlands. At least he knows he is supposed to be here, if this is really what ████ is truly.

Her top eyes looked to the side, looking very saddened, while her bottom eyes continued to look at him, trying to look unbothered.

“Urbanshade called my husband The Ferryman…Which was just his job title…He would scoop up the souls and take them to the cities…But…Urbanshade says he was killed by who they call The Guardian Angel…When he was killed…I decided to take the duties of Ferryman…”

The way she said Urbanshade said The Guardian Angel killed The Ferryman…It didn’t sound like she fully believed that. But it wouldn’t surprise him if Urbanshade was covering their involvement in his death by blaming the Angel, just like how he suspects something was off with their interaction with the Angel.

“I did the duties…For a while…But when Urbanshade finally captured The Guardian Angel…I couldn’t do it anymore…It pained me to keep trying to do his job…I missed my old job…I missed my husband…”

Despite how hard she tried to hold herself together, black tears streamed out of her sockets. She doesn’t fully break down and keeps acting like nothing was happening. This was a god so deeply broken by loss.

“I still give those with The Ferryman Token a second chance at life…That’s what my husband used to do…But unlike him…I do not need the tokens…I toss them back…To be found once again…I just watch the souls as they drift in the lake…There really shouldn’t be this many…I am truly awful at my job…I’m sorry…”

A god apologizing was a rare sight, but she definitely wasn’t apologizing to Tate. She was so stricken with grief that she couldn’t even do her husband’s job because it made her think of him. She felt like she had failed him.

Tate has succeeded in comforting Grace and Randall…But the literal god of death would probably be more difficult. Still, he couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Who she believed was the love of her life was now gone. 

“...Y’know…I think he would understand…” She was now looking at him with all four eyes, full attention on Tate. “I mean, anyone who lost someone they loved would have a hard time doin’ sumthin’ that reminded them of that person…It’s no fault of yer’s if ya can’t do the job…’Specially since it wasn’t yer original job to begin with an’ ya clearly don’t enjoy it…I believe he’d want ya to do what made ya happy…”

She was silent, then she looked away, as if pondering what he had told her. She couldn’t get her old job back. Not right now. They were still looking for a replacement for her. But Tate was right. The Ferryman would want her to be happy.

She closed her eyes and gave a light chuckle. Then, she looked at him, with contentment in her eyes and a small, sad smile. “We are very similar, you and I…We are deeply wounded…Believed we had found the one…Only for that to be taken away…My husband was taken away from me…Your ‘Sweetheart’ broke your trust…”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Of course she knew that. What he did. But he didn’t expect her to just basically admit it. She knew he was a bad man. 

A monster in wolf’s fur.

“You do not have to worry…” Death said after seeing his expression become grim. “I do not judge a soul's actions…That is not my job…I merely just guide them…”

He was still troubled by it. How can anyone not judge him? “...I’m still a bad man…I chose to still do the things I did…”

“And yet you still have some kindness in your heart…But you are now afraid to have any real connections with others…Crave company…But are alone…Like me…”

Out of anyone to ever understand that, he was not expecting the goddess of death to. Let alone call him out.

“But you have people who you can connect with now…You just need to take the risk…”

“...” He looks away. He didn’t want to admit it, but that was terrifying for him. “...Ya mean I HAD the chance…I still ██████ up…”

She chuckled once again. “Did you not hear what I told you…? About The Ferryman Token…?”

“Yeah, what ‘bout it? I don’t see—” Then, he realized it. How did he not put that together? “Wait, the coin I had…That was the Token?!”

She nods her head. “Why do you think I pulled you out…? Why you are aware while the other souls are not…? Why you are not drifting in the lake with the other souls…? You have been given a second chance…”

He was dumbfounded. “But why me? Ya know I ain’t—”

“I told you…I simply guide…Not judge…You found the token…I give you a second chance to live…Although…I am not fond of giving too many chances…”

Tate really thought it was the end when he was killed. But it seems his luck still hasn’t ran out yet.

“And besides…You have done something that most souls could not…”

He was a little confused. “Oh? An’ what exactly was that?”

“You stayed…Despite giving you the cold shoulder…You were determined to talk to me…Even offered to keep me company…You listened…And you tried to comfort me…No soul I have plucked out of the sea was patient enough to keep trying…And no soul was able to be entertaining…Be interesting…Even make me laugh…And you made me feel seen…You understand…Your company was something I needed…I…Never had a friend…In a long time…”

She still had sadness behind her expression. But now she seemed to find some contentment she needed. Tate gave her what she has been needing for a long time. Someone to talk to. A friend.

“You are not the first to do that…The Player…They have also given me company…But they are forced to come here…It’s not their choice…I believe they are similar to you…They have broken trust…They want connection…But do not believe they can have that…not anymore…”

Once again, another mention of this Player character. They have been here too? Who are they? And why are they important?

“But I cannot just keep you here…I have a promise to uphold…You will return to your friends…You get to live once again…”

As she said that, she pointed her scythe to the boxes next to her. He didn’t notice it before, but in front of them was an ancient stone arch. It was definitely weathered by time, but it seemed important.

Suddenly, she moves her scythe in tiny circles. Then, as her scythe glowed green, the stone arch started to hum. A red vortex appeared inside the frame. A portal.

She lifted her scythe back to her side. “This portal will take you back…You will wake up in your body…It will be almost like nothing happened…Your fatal wounds will be gone…The only thing left will be some scarring…”

He looked at the portal, then back at Lady Death. He wanted to stay with her, but he couldn’t let his second chance go to waste. And he guessed she would not let him stay anyway.

“Before you go…You should take that file…It contains the little information that Urbanshade has on me…” 

She points to the table on the pier near her boat. On it, there was a document with ‘CLASSIFIED’ stamped on top. Tate looked at it and walked over to it. He picked it up.

“Take it as an extra reward for finding the token…And take this as a token of my gratitude for keeping me company…”

Her hand reached out to the back of his hand. It’s cold, but gentle. She leaned down close to him, her face close to his.

“You souls see a kiss as a romantic gesture…But for us…It is a show of respect and appreciation…”

She placed what would be her lips on the top of his head. He went red in the face again.

“Thank you for taking time to keep me company…”

She stood up again. Death was always said to be a scary thing. But she wasn’t a scary being. She was beautiful. Gentle. Lonely…

“And one more thing…You should try and let someone in…I see two people that would like to spend more time with you…And you feel the same…Why don’t you allow yourself to genuinely connect with them…? Randall and Grace may also have the same problem you do…But you all could benefit in each other's company…Whether you choose romance or not…Even friendships can be beneficial…”

“...” She was right, but it was going to be hard for him to do that. “I’ll try, but I don’t like making promises…” 

“Just consider it…” She smiled sadly. “Goodbye for now Tate Frost…May we meet again when your time comes…” She turned towards the lake of the dead and stared into it, just like she did before.

He stared at her for a moment. He did not expect to meet Death herself, let alone get a second chance at life. Finally, he looked at the portal. His way back to the land of the living.

He slowly walked towards it. 

But he stopped right in front of it when he heard it. The melody he heard in the lake. But it wasn’t humming…

…He could actually hear Lady Death’s song.

“Waiting…~”

“Waiting…~”

“I’m Waiting…~”

“For You…~”

She was still waiting…

…waiting for her love…

Tate stepped through the portal and woke up.

He was alive once again.

.     .     .

“Wow, I did not expect there to be an ACTUAL God of Death…Let alone a woman.” Said Grace after Tate recounted what had happened to him.

They had moved forward only two rooms. They are now in the Maintenance tunnels and have found a side room to take a short rest.

“I feel bad for her,” stated Alise, “to lose her husband she loved so much…No wonder she is still in so much grief.”

“I think it is made even worse considering the fact she is also immortal,” added Dee, “to us, loss happens, but we all die eventually so the grief does not last long. But what if someone does not die? The grief may last longer.”

“Well,” started Vee, “at least now we know we can have a second chance if we have that Ferryman Token. But I am guessing it will be rare to come across, let alone a second time.”

“I don’t even think I can use it a second time,” added Tate, “she did say she din’t like revivin’ people multiple times…An’ I’d rather respect her wishes on that.”

When they had gotten in the room, Tate couldn’t sit still. He had this sudden energy coursing through him ever since he was revived. He had been pacing back and forth as he recounted his side of the story. But once he got closer to the end of it, that energy was finally draining and what had happened to him was finally hitting him. He was now sitting against the wall, looking a lot more tired than he was before his death. 

“Well, now that you are finally able to stay still,” said Alise, “I want to check you over. I-If you are alright with that! It is not everyday you see someone get revived through some divine intervention…A-And I want to make sure you are absolutely okay!”

He just chuckled. “Aw…Did I make ya worry that much?~ If it puts yer mind at ease, Doc, then go ahead…”

She did come close to him and looked him over. His eye seemed good as new, or at least back to normal, but his arm had a new scar, it looked more recent than the ones he had before, in the inside bend of the elbow where his arm had been █████████ ██████ from. 

“There is some scarring…I do want to see if there is any more on your body…I-If you are comfortable, that is!”

“Naw, it’s fine! Ya just want me to take off the shirt or…?”

“J-Just the jacket and the tank top! I-I do not need to be TOO thorough…”

He chuckled again. “Alrighty then~”

He took off the jacket. He seemed more than happy to get that thing off. He had looked to be hot in it the entire journey. Makes sense due to his size. Then, he took off the tank top.

Unsurprisingly, this revealed he had more tattoos than just the gambling one. He had a tattoo across the top of his chest that was an arc of teeth, almost like a necklace. Low on his stomach, there were two axes crossed together in the shape of an X. But the most interesting tattoo was the one on the right shoulder. It was of a wolf, made to look like it was tearing through Tate’s skin.

“Wow,” remarked Grace, “I thought that whole speech about wolves in packs was just to get a point across, but you really ARE into wolves, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “I just really like ‘em…It’s like mah spirit animal or sumthin’ like that…”

“...You really aren’t subtle…”

He raised an eyebrow. “So…? Never said I was…I told ya, I know I’m not a good man—”

“While Alise is checking him over,” interrupted Dee, “I would like to take a look at that file Tate got from Lady Death. It might have some useful information…”

“Sure,” he said, “But it’s probably just ‘bout her…”

“Any information can be useful.”

He handed her the file and she opened it:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lady Death

"Lady Death" is the former Grim Reaper and current Ferryman within The Banlands.

As the current Ferryman, Lady Death (Hereby referred to as simply "Death") is in charge of handling the transportation of the dead within the Banlands. Due to her unwillingness to talk, no interviews with her have been possible. Death is the one responsible for reviving deceased Urbanshade personnel, allowing dead employees to be brought back to work. Urbanshade personnel are recommended to avoid death if possible, with multiple casualties coming out of an individual's paycheck. Whilst procuring tokens over time is relatively cheap, acquiring many in quick succession can add up to be incredibly expensive relatively quickly. As such, if an event with a high predicted casualty occurs, it is highly recommended to rely on the EXR-E.

After her husband, the former Ferryman, was killed by the Guardian Angel of the Banlands during a fight, Death was forced to take up the position as the replacement Ferryman. Letting the newly opened Reaper position go to Hallowed, Death took up the mantle as the new Ferryman, transporting the souls of the dead to the cities within the Banlands.

After the defeat of the Guardian Angel, Death ceased to do her work entirely, and returned to the lake of the dead's pier. Instead of performing her duties, Death spends the majority of her time standing on the edge of the pier, staring into the ocean of souls. She only fulfills her obligations when Urbanshade affiliated personnel pay her with Ferryman Tokens to bring back their dead. Seemingly, tokens have no value to Death, as whenever she brings back a soul, she simply tosses the token back into the ocean. It is assumed that she only does her duties for the tokens in order to preserve her husband's legacy, or as a small "thank you" for avenging her husband. It should be noted, that if she is to revive the same soul in quick succession, she will become agitated and, whilst still bringing the soul back, will not do so without causing slight bodily harm to the soul.

With Death neglecting her responsibilities, the lake of the dead has been filled to the brim with souls. The Devil, agitated by the lack of new friends being brought to the cities, has commissioned Urbanshade to construct a machine to take over Death's role, allowing her to retire. As of writing this, construction of the new Ferryman is estimated to be complete in late ████.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“So there IS a Devil…Interesting…” Dee seemed REALLY intrigued by the otherworldly things being revealed.

“And she does indeed not like reviving people more than once,” added Vee.

“Toda esta información sobre las deidades realmente me ha hecho cuestionar lo que me enseñaron en la escuela católica…” Murmured Alise, then she stood up and looked at Tate. “Well, the injuries are definitely gone, but they have left new scars. They should fade in a few days and they will just be like your other scars…Although, I am concerned about how you got those as well.”

He just shrugged. “Hunting an’ camping.” He said it like it was just an automatic response.

“Some look like scars from blades.”

“...Okay, maybe a few fights…An’ stupidity…Hehe…”

“Stupidity I can agree on. What were you thinking?! Why would you fight that monster?!”

“Well, it already saw me…It came after me an’ followed me to the side room…Got cornered an’ din’t wanna die laying down…”

“Besides,” added Grace, “It actually wasn’t all that stupid…He actually saved us by doing it.”

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. “I did…?”

She nodded her head. “When me and Randall went to go find you, the monster was still standing over your body. It tried to come towards us, but you had injured it so bad that movement was difficult. Instead, it just fled, probably retreating to tend to its wounds. If you didn’t fight it…It could have been able to kill Randall and I…Then potentially go after Dee, Vee, and Alise next…”

“Huh…” He scratched his chin in thought. “I guess I did do sumthin’ smart then…Not as much of a dumb███ as ya thought I was, eh?~”

“Nah, you’re still a dumb███.” Luckily, he just chuckled at that. Then she said, “But I still wonder how you seriously injured it so badly…”

He smirked smugly. “Guess I’m just that strong~” He flexed his bicep as if to prove his point.

She deadpanned. “...You brought a knife along, didn’t you…?”

He seemed to pout. “No…”

A pause.

“...Guss had brought a pocket knife with him…”

“When the ████ did you steal a pocket knife from him?!”

“When he died…He wasn’t gonna need it anymore…Thought I could put it to good use…An’ I did!”

“...To be honest…I am now more concerned on HOW Guss managed to bring that thing. They checked for any deadly weapons before we got on the sub!”

“Slimy weasels have their ways…” Seems Tate still disliked Guss, even after his death.

He put the tank top back on. “Y’know…Maybe I can keep the jacket off for a bit…Just so I can finally cool—Huh?!”

Tate was not expecting Randall’s head to suddenly fall on his arm. He had been sitting right next to Tate on the left, but it seems his high emotional state earlier, along with the sudden whiplash of relief, had taken a massive toll on him. As soon as Randall had closed his eyes, he fell asleep and his head finally just slid to the side onto Tate.

Tate smiled. “Aw…Well, ain’t that just goddamn adorable…~” He wrapped his arm around him and pulled him closer, then he yawned. “...Though, I think he has the right idea…I could go for a nap mahself…”

In fact, they all seemed tired. It was hard to tell time down here. There weren’t any clocks around and they weren’t given a watch. Everything that has happened so far felt like it has only been an hour, but that could be due to the danger. For all they know, it could have been a full day already. How long has it been since they ACTUALLY slept?

“We do need to keep moving,” interjected Vee.

“That is true,” said Alise, “but we would do better if we are all well rested. A little nap would not hurt…”

She was going to argue against it, but Dee squeezed her hand. She looked at her and saw she was also tired. She sighed, “Alright…But it should not be too long…We do not want to be caught off guard by a monster…”

“I agree…” said Grace, then she yawned. “...But a nap sounds nice…Crying takes a lot out of you…I need an emotional recharge…”

She was sitting next to Tate as well, on the right. She went to get up, but he wrapped his other arm around her, effectively keeping her there. He pulled her closer and smirked playfully. He knew what he was doing.

“...” She had a look that just said “really…?” on her face, but then she sighed. “...Fine, your body is comfortable anyway. You’ll make a warm pillow.” She leaned into him and he chuckled, feeling very proud of himself.

Dee and Vee sat against the wall on the opposite side, Dee leaning on Vee’s shoulder. Alise sat against the wall opposite of the door.

They all took a well deserved nap…

…Well, almost all of them.

.     .     .

“...Why are you not sleeping…?” Whispered Alise.

Dee, Grace, and Tate had already gone to sleep. Vee and Alise, however, were still awake. 

“Making sure Dee is alright…” Whispered back Vee. “And watching out for any monsters that may come…Can you not sleep because of his snoring…?”

She was talking about Tate. Unlike Dee and Randall’s light snoring and Grace’s almost nonexistent snoring, he was very loud. How could any of them sleep through it?

Alise shook her head no. “It is mostly just…Too many thoughts running through my head…Makes it hard to sleep.”

“Understandable.” Responded Vee. 

Silence. Except for Tate’s snoring of course.

“...How did you get here…?” Finally asked Alise. “I mean, if you do not mind me asking about your crime…”

“I do not mind…Short version, me and Dee have been robbing rich people for a while now, we robbed a corrupt politician against giving immigrant families benefits, I stupidly set his mansion on fire, we both got stuck in the woods because of said fire, and we got caught.”

“...Yep, that would definitely make sense.”

“...How did you get here?”

Alise looked down and twiddled her thumbs. She was not prepared for the question to be thrown back at her.

“...It is fine if you do not want to tell me. I understand.”

“...” She took a deep breath. “...I got in a car accident…”

Vee raised an eyebrow. “Okay…? How does that lead to prison…?”

“It was my fault…I had been doing residency at my local hospital…As a med student…I ended up staying really late at night because of an emergency they made me help with…Said it was a good way to get some experience…”

“That does not sound very ethical…Especially since I would not think a med student would have enough skills yet to help in an emergency.”

She shrugged. “I do not know if it was or was not…But I really wanted to become a nurse…I was the first in my family to graduate high school…To go to college…And I was going to be the first to become a nurse…They all expected me to do good…To get high grades…All A’s…If I did not…Well…” She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them.

Vee furrowed her brows. “You should not have had such high expectations put on you. That sounds draining…”

Alise just continued her story. “I was driving home…Like I said, it was already night…Which I already hated driving at night because it is harder to see with my glasses creating light rings from the streetlights…I was so tired…I closed my eyes for just a second…then…”

Alise choked back a sob. What happened seemed to have affected her greatly.

“You do not need to continue if it affects you so badly…”

But Alise continued. “I woke up to my car flipped over on the side of the road…My door was torn off…I was hurt…But alive…I was able to drag myself out…Then I noticed the other car…The car I had collided with…I realized I had gotten lucky…”

“I-I rushed over to try and help! I-I thought I could help because I was training for this! B-But there was so much █████! I—”

“Alise!” Vee quietly shouted. Alise was slowly raising her voice without noticing. She went back to a whisper.

“...It was too late…They were ██████ on impact…All of them…The whole family…I can not stop seeing their faces…So lifeless…So haunting…But what truly broke me…Was seeing the little car seat…Just big enough for a newborn…”

“...And I remember seeing the ████████ body still inside the car seat…A pane of glass had ███████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████…”

Alise’s eyes had a far off look about them…Alise was deeply traumatized by what she had done…

“The next thing I knew…I was slammed against the car…A police officer happened to drive by…He saw what happened…He knew what I had done…He knew I was a murderer…”

“He kept repeating it…Over…And over…And over…And over…’You ████████ them!’…’You ████████ them!’…’You ████████ them!’…’You ████████ them!’…”

Alise buried her face in her knees and sobbed. “Lo siento…Lo siento…Lo siento…Lo siento…” She kept repeating the phrase…Over…And over…And over…And over.

“...” Vee wanted to comfort her so badly, but she couldn’t move. If she moved, she might wake Dee, who was still sleeping on her shoulder. “...You said you were religious, correct…?”

Alise looked up, tears still streaming down her face. She sniffled, “...Yes…Catholic…Why…?”

“Well, I am Islamic and Dee is not religious, but what do you think God, or I guess The Almighty, would think about the situation…?”

“...” Alise hugged her knees. “Probably would be disappointed with me…”

“I do not think so.”

“Huh?”

“Is your god not supposed to be a forgiving one…? Are you not his child…? Your parents may have not been as forgiving…But they do not sound like parents at all…Parents are supposed to forgive their children…Especially if what happened was an accident…”

“...” Alise looked down. “I do not know…When I called my parents for the last time and told them what happened…All they said was ‘Eres un fracaso para la familia. Dios te permitirá arder en el ████████ por tus pecados.’ And then hung up…”

“What does that mean…?”

“‘You are a failure to the family. God will let you to burn in ████ for your sins.’”

“...Well, I think they are wrong.”

“How could you be so sure…?”

“...Dee said the last thing the Angel told her was ‘I forgive you and your friends’.”

Alise looked surprised. “How did—”

“That is not the point. The point is that I think the Angel was telling us that not only does it forgive us for working for Urbanshade…But maybe for our past sins as well…”

“...” She tried to process what had just been said. “...You really think so…?”

Vee shrugged. “I do not know…But it is a nice thought…And it is a believable thought for a forgiving god like yours.”

There was silence from both of them.

“...I still do not know why I signed up…I pleaded guilty…I deserve to rot in prison…”

“You should probably stop thinking that. And think of it as your god giving you a second chance.”

“...How did you know about—”

“I was curious about other religions. I do not believe in them, of course, but you do you…I guess…”

“...” Alise slightly smiled. “Hmm…You know…I have always wondered about other religions…But was always told I should not learn doctrines other than ███ ████ █████…What is your religion te—”

But before she could ask more about Vee’s religion, a sudden loud sound cut her off.

Randall screamed.

.     .     .

Vee and Alise turned their heads towards Randall. Dee yelped awake. And Tate jolted awake, looking around frantically. 

When his eyes landed on Randall, he immediately got very concerned. “Randall, are ya alright?! Why’d ya scream?!”

Randall was breathing rapidly, but he quickly started to calm down. “I-I…” Then he looked a bit confused. “I…Don’t know…I-I think I had a nightmare again…I-I can’t remember what it was though…I-I’m so sorry for waking you!”

Tate sighed in relief. “It’s fine, Bunny…Ya just scared the livin’ daylights out of me…” He held him tightly and rubbed his shoulder in an attempt to sooth him.

“...U-Uh…D-Did I…F-Fall asleep on you…?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, but I don’t mind! At least it led to us gettin’ a good nap finally…”

“O-Oh…I-I’m sorry…”

“Now, ya gotta stop sayin’ yer sorry! I told ya, it’s fine…Ya can’t help it when ya have a nightmare!”

“It was probably for the best to wake up anyway,” commented Vee, “We should not stay in one place too long.”

Dee was rubbing her eyes. Vee looked down at her and smiled softly.

“Well, I am glad everyone is properly rested at least!” Stated Alise.

“Yeah…despite the thunder sounds…” Vee looked at Tate.

“What does that mean?” He raised an eyebrow.

“You snore…very loudly…”

“Oh…” He looked away and scratched the back of his head. “Sorry ‘bout that…”

“I am surprised everyone was even able to fall asleep with it…”

“Okay, ya can stop talking ‘bout—Ow!”

Tate looked at his arm he had around Randall. Apparently, he had gripped his arm so tightly that he clawed through Tate’s skin and drew blood.

“Damn Bunny…Ya got me good there! Did not realize how sharp yer nails are…”

Randall looked at Tate’s arm. “O-Oh my god! I-I’m so s-sorry! I-I didn’t mean to—”

“Now, what did I say ‘bout sayin’ sorry? It’s fine…Just a few drops! Nothin’ that'll kill me! Although…I guess I should bandage it up…”

“Do we have any more medkits…?” Dee groggily asked, still trying to rub sleep from her eyes.

“I think Grace still has one! Right Gra—Oh…”

They looked at Grace. She was still asleep, leaning on Tate. Surprisingly, Randall’s scream didn’t wake her up.

“Damn, never took her as a heavy sleeper! She’s a quiet sleeper too! I can’t even hear her snorin’!”

Tate patted her gently. “Grace…Time to wake up sleepy Kitty…”

…Nothing. She was still sleeping.

“Kitty…Ya can’t be Sleepin’ Beauty forever…Ya gotta get up…Also, yer causing mah arm to fall asleep a bit…”

…Still nothing.

“Wow, she is really a deep sleeper…” Remarked Vee.

“...Guys…Something is wrong…” Commented Alise.

“Yeah, she’s still asleep!” Responded Tate. “Kitty…Wakey wakey…Ya can’t sleep forever!”

…Nothing still.

“...She is not snoring…At all…” Stated Alise. 

“W-What’s wrong with that…?” Asked Randall.

“...Snoring is an indication of breathing…”

They went silent.

“Grace…?” Tate had concern in his voice. “Time to wake up now!”

They watched her…

…She wasn’t breathing at all.

“Grace!” Tate started to shake her. “C’mon! Wake up!”

She felt limp in his arms. They were panicking.

“How could this happen?!” Shouted Vee. “Me and Alise were watching the whole time!”

“GRACE, WAKE UP!!!” 

But not even Tate’s screaming could wake her up…

…And then ‘Bugle Call: Awake for Morning Call’ blasted through the intercom.

Grace’s eyes shot open and she gasped.

She wasn’t the only one who was scared by the sound though. Everyone had covered their ears.

Then, a familiar voice, trying to do a drill sergeant impression, started to speak:

“RISE AND SHINE MAGGOTS!!! WE DON’T HAVE ALL DAY TO LAY AROUND!!! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST BE LAZY?!?! DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!!!”

The AI cackled.

“YOU SONUVA█████!!! WHAT THE ████ WAS THAT FOR?!?!”

“I Was Gonna Do It Earlier, But Purple Guy Beat Me To The Punch! Then I Noticed Your Friend Was Still Asleep, So I Decided To Help! You Should Have Seen Your FACES!!! It Was Price—”

The screen where the AI was displayed shattered. 

“AGAIN?!?! REALLY?!?!”

“THAT’S WHAT YOU ███████ GET FOR WAKING ME UP, YOU MOTHER██████!!!”

Welp, at least Grace was alive. She had gotten up, picked up a stapler from the desk, and threw it at the AI.

“...you’re welcome, by the way…”

The intercom turned off.

She huffed a bit, then she started to try and sit down in her spot again. But Tate grabbed her and pulled her into him.

“What the—What are you—”

“What the ████ was that?!”

“What do you mean?! The horn sound woke me up! So I—”

“Not that! The whole not breathing thing!”

She was confused. “What are you—” Then she realized. “Oh…Oops…”

“Grace, do you have sleep apnea…?” Asked Alise.

“Uh…Yeah…I-I forgot to warn you all about that…Sorry…”

Tate breathed deeply, then sighed. “...Ya scared me real bad there, Sha…”

She was surprised. “I-I’m sorry…I-I really didn’t think about it…”

“It is strange though,” commented Alise, “usually people with sleep apnea are more on the…Er…Bigger side…But you seem to be relatively healthy.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know…I just always had it…”

“Well, now that we are all awake,” interjected Vee, “We should get going…”

“Yeah,” Grace yawned, “although, I would like a few more hours of sleep…”

“Nope, ya not goin’ back to bed, Sleepin’ Beauty.” Tate grabbed her and stood up. “C’mon, time to get goin’!”

“Mmmm…” She wasn’t even mad about her being held by him. She was basically like a ragdoll right now. “How about you just carry me instead…?

He chuckled. “An’ let ya fall asleep? Naw, I ain’t lettin’ ya give me another heart attack again! Now c’mon, stand up.”

He lowered her to the ground til her feet touched it. Once she didn’t feel like she was gonna fall over, he let go of her.

“Come on,” said Dee, “let us go to room 46.”

.     .     .

You know, there are consequences for revival. Ones you would never expect.

I have died many times. I have been pulled out of the lake many times. I have met Lady Death many times.

She was annoyed with me, at first, but she realized it wasn’t my fault. We got to talking. I was basically her only company. Such a sad, lonely deity. I pity her.

But I have to go eventually. No matter what, Urbanshade needs their toy. Their plaything. They use me like a worn out doll. Battered. Bruised. And yet they will never throw me out. Not as long as I am useful.

…Tate hasn’t experienced the consequences. Not yet at least.

It starts with the screams. Everytime you dare to close your eyes, the screams of the souls stuck in the lake come back. Screaming. Begging. Pleading. All wanting to be freed. You never forget their screams.

It’s even worse when you hear the screams of the people you once knew too.

Everytime I’m in the water, I try to not focus on any soul. But I always slip. And I am reminded of my failures. 

I had to learn not to get attached. Because it hurts when they die. It hurts when they are ripped away from me. It hurts to hear their thoughts.

I thought I got better at not caring…

…But I think I was wrong.

No, I’m not wrong! I’m just a good actor! I got good at crying! I got good at lying! I got good at pretending I am still HUMAN!

Oh, and you want to know a fun fact? What I wrote about Tate’s interaction with Lady Death? Yeah, he didn’t tell them ALL of that! After so many revivals, I have gained the ability to SPEAK with Lady Death! Even when I am not DEAD! So, I decided to ask her for the details that Tate CONVENIENTLY left out!

Tate never mentioned his Sweetheart! He never mentioned what Lady Death said about Randall and Grace! And most importantly…He NEVER mentioned how much Daniel’s death AFFECTED HIM!

He thinks he is so sneaky…I SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU!!! YOU AREN’T EVEN A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING!!! YOU’RE A MONSTER IN WOLF’S FUR!!!

We are so similar…and yet so different! YOU don’t know what it’s like! One measly revival is NOTHING compared to █████████!!! NO ONE UNDERSTANDS!!!

No one is haunted by them…By those who died…No one understands me…no one will ever understand me…

…All I hear are SCREAMS…

.     .     .

Room 46:

“Well, at least the water is not literally filling the rooms top to bottom this time,” stated Dee.

When they first entered the room, nothing looked different until they saw the next door, or two doors right next to each other, in front of them didn’t have a number sign. Then, when they opened the doors, which both lead to the same room, they found a half submerged ‘47’ door. 

“Welp, I think we can all stand in it, correct?” Asked Vee. “It does not look too deep that we have to swim…”

“Well, lets see,” suggested Grace, “I’ll go and if the water doesn’t submerge me, then we can guess it’s safe.”

Before anyone could protest, she stepped into the water…

…Well, her head wasn’t submerged, but her chest sure was. The water almost came to her neck. She looked back and shrugged. “Guess it’s fine…Come on, let’s get going.”

They all got in the water and they could all stand. Although the water came almost to Grace’s neck, who was the shortest, the water only came to just above Tate’s waist, who was the tallest. Luckily, Tate zipped up his jumpsuit before getting in, but decided to keep his sleeves rolled up. 

“This is gonna a █████ to walk through…” He said.

“Well, at least Dee doesn’t have to swim!” Remarked Alise. “That is good! I would rather not have another incident again…”

Grace went towards door 47 and it opened…And the room was flooded as well.

“The water level stays the same across rooms,” noted Dee, “at least it probably would not rise!”

“Til ya step off an edge ya can’t see…” Tate suggested. “Kitty, be careful. Ya might end up underwater.”

She just rolled her eyes. “That’s not going to happen. I’ll be fine. Now let’s continue and—”

She took a step into the next room…And her head went underwater. Huh…Tate was right, there was a ledge afterall! And Grace didn’t see it! 

“G-Grace!” Randall yelled out. “G-Grace, a-are you alright?!”

She didn’t surface from the water for a bit. They started to get concerned…Until finally she popped her head out of the water and gasped.

She coughed and frantically got back into the previous room. “WHAT THE ████?!?! THE WATER HAD RISEN!!! WHY WAS THERE A LEDGE?!?!”

She coughed and tried to catch her breath. That scared the living daylights out of her! She calmed down after a bit.

Tate couldn’t help but laugh. She shot him a death glare. “I’m sorry Honey, but that was perfect! Haha!”

Then, she swung her arm and splashed water on him. She giggled with a mischievous grin. “████ you, dumb███! That’s what you get for laughing at me! Hehe!”

He wasn’t mad about it and splashed her back, but he made sure to be aware of his strength while doing so. “Well, I say now we’re even! Considerin’ ya laughed at me fallin’ on mah face!”

This seemed to lighten everyone’s mood. They all were snickering and giggling at the antics. It was good to see Grace was being energetic after what happened earlier!

After the laughter died down, Tate got near the door. “Okay, now that we know it gets deeper ‘ere, let’s figure out how deep.” He stepped into the next room…

…The water rose to his chest.

“Well, that ain’t good…” he looked back at the group. “I think we can still get through without swimmin’.” Then, he looked at Grace. “...Most of us.”

She huffed. “I only went underwater because I didn’t expect the drop off.”

“Well,” said Dee, “let us just go in and continue. As long as I do not have to swim, I think we should be fine, right?”

They went to the next room. Grace was the last to enter this time. She was right, she only went underwater because of her not knowing about the step. But that didn’t mean her nose and mouth didn’t go underwater as she stood in it. She had to tilt her head up to breathe. 

“See? Told you it was just because of the sudden step down…”

“...Ya still havin’ a difficult time though…” Tate went over to her and picked her up.

“Hey! What are you—” Before she knew it, she was on Tate’s shoulders. A light blush formed on her cheeks. “Are you serious?”

“What? Din’t ya ask if I could carry ya earlier?~” He smugly smiled.

“This is not what I—Hey…Your hair IS soft…Fluffy…How is it so soft and fluffy???”

He chuckled. “Now, that’s a secret Sha!~ But don’t act like ya don’t have soft hair too!” 

“I—Whatever, there is no arguing with you…The only complaint I have is your ponytail is making it slightly less comfortable.” 

“Are we ready to continue?” Asked Alise.

“I-I think so…” Responded Randall, who had the water up to his neck. For some reason, that thought made it hurt. Why was his neck hurting?

They traversed through the water. Oddly enough, there were platforms out of the water. 

“...Why do I feel like when I have a bad feeling, something happens…” Commented Randall.

As soon as they got close to the door leading to 48, they heard something splash behind them. They all quickly turned around.

As if Randall willed into existence, there was a new monster! How convenient! 

This monster had a pincer-like claw for a mouth, which took up most of its face, and no eyes. It had four antennas, two large and two small, that had glowing green bulbs on the end of them. However, although it looked like a slug, it had multiple species of fish attached to one another. Each one looked like it was trying to eat the fish in front of it and, as each fish was closer to the head of the thing, it looked more lifeless and decaying. And it seemed the creature was using their eyes as their own to see. 

It was back near the entrance of room 47. It let out a low grumble and started to move its way towards the group. It wasn’t too fast, but it was definitely making a good distance towards them.

“We need to go, now!” Shouted Dee.

They went through the door leading to 48. The beast was still coming and the water was still making the group slow. It was like the thing was made for the water, probably due to the many fish on its tail…

…But fish can’t walk on land, can they?

“T-The platforms!” Shouted Randall. “G-Get on the platforms! I-If my guess is correct, t-then it can’t follow us on land!”

“Are you sure?” Asked Vee.

“I trust Randall,” stated Grace, who was surprisingly calm, “if it’s using the fish to travel, then land should be a no go for it.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot!” Responded Tate.

They got on one of the dry platforms. The monster came into the room, but once it noticed them all on land, it simply grumbled in displeasure and submerged under the water.

“Damn! Good thinkin’ Bunny!” Tate said to Randall. 

Randall blushed. “H-Heh…I-I just remembered fish can’t walk on land…”

“Yeah, but I would not celebrate too early,” stated Vee, “we are not out of the woods yet…or waters.” Seems she did have a sense of humor.

“She is right,” stated Alise, “there is no dry path to the door. We still need to go in the water!”

“Great, we still can’t avoid the monster…” Complained Grace. 

“Let us just get to the next platform,” stated Dee, “quickly.”

They entered the water again. It wasn’t long before the slug monster resurfaced to continue its pursuit, again.

But this time it got real close to Dee. It opened its mouth claws and charged forwards…

…She moved out of the way. The monster tried to turn, but it seemed to have difficulty.

“It cannot turn fast,” she pointed out, “we can dodge it!”

They made it to the platform, and the monster submerged again. 

“Okay, this is just tedious,” stated Grace, “let’s try to move faster.”

“Honey, we are tryin’ go as fast as we can,” said Tate, “if ya want to try and go faster, I can just—”

“Nevermind, let’s just keep going.”

He chuckled. “See, that’s whatcha get when ya try to boss people around~”

“Just get through the door!”

They continued this cycle of being chased by the monster, then on platform all the way to room 50. The next door was on a platform, possibly signaling the end of the semi-flooded rooms. But now they have a problem…

“T-There is no more p-platforms to the door,” stated Randall, “w-what are we going to do?!”

“We can weave through the water,” suggested Vee, “the thing cannot turn fast, so it will have a hard time keeping up with us if we get it to turn.”

“It can only target one person at a time,” added Alise, “so whoever it targets can go in a big circle around it and cause it to turn.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Exclaimed Tate. “Are ya ready, Kitty?”

“I’m ready,” stated Grace, “and I’ll hold on tight.”

“Let us go then!” Exclaimed Dee.

They got in the water and, sure enough, the beast resurfaced to continue its pursuit. They all made sure their path was not straight and were quite far apart.

The monster chose to target Vee. She immediately started going in a circle and as soon as the monster was fully turned around, she continued her path to the door. The monster growled in frustration.

They all made their way to the door. Randall got on the platform and the doors automatically opened. There was no more water on the other side.

“Finally, that was stressful!” He turned around. “T-There’s no more water to go through!”

“Thank god!” Dee exclaimed as she got to the platform as well.

Alise then made it to the platform, followed by Vee. Tate and Grace were almost there.

“Finally, no more █████’ water holdin’ us back! Ya can ████ yerself, damn mon—”

He stumbled in the water for a moment, but got his balance.

“Damn, █████’ almost tripped on something…” He traversed through the water, reached the platform, and got on. “Anyway, that was too easy! We’re getting too good at learnin’ their tricks! Hah!”

“...Tate…?” Asked Alise. “Where did Grace go…?”

“What’d ya mean? She’s right—”

He went to squeeze Grace’s legs, but there were no legs for him to squeeze. He reached up over his head, but there was nothing to be found. There was no Grace sitting on his shoulders now…

“...████!”

They all quickly looked back in the water. They saw a little head trying to keep itself above water.

“G-Grace!” Shouted Randall. “A-Are you alright?!”

“Yeah I’m…I’m fine! I…I-I’m gonna just swim o-over!”

She started to swim to the platform. But something was off. It was quiet…too quiet…

“...Wait a minute…” Dee scanned the waters. “...Where did the monster go…?”

The monster was nowhere to be found.

“Grace, hurry!” Shouted Alise.

“I’m coming as fast as I can!” Shouted back Grace. “Give me a damn moment!”

As soon as she got close, she stopped for a moment. “See? I could do it by myself! But it would have been nice if you noticed I fell off sooner, dumb—”

Suddenly, she was cut off as the monster roared. It grabbed onto her leg and raised its head up. Then, it slammed its head and Grace back into the water.

She could hear their muffled yells. She was a little dazed, but she started to come out of it pretty quickly. She was about to try to resurface again, but then the monster came at her with its claw mouth. She immediately grabbed on and tried to push it away from her. 

The monster was strong, but she tried kicking it in the face and got it to go back. She tried to swim away, but all of a sudden, the monster bit right into her side. She hissed in pain and tried to get it off, but it latched on tight. She was starting to lose strength and her air supply was depleting. It started to go dark for her as the last of her air was released.

Suddenly, the monster received a kick from a big boot, then big, strong arms grabbed Grace and swiftly got her above water. Tate held her in his arms. Luckily, she immediately gasped and had a coughing fit.

“████! I’m so sorry, Sha! C’mon, we gotta get to the—GAH!”

He let out a pained scream. Then, he was dragged underwater, effectively dropping Grace back into the water. The monster held onto his leg, teeth baring down. He kicked it off with his other foot, but it quickly targeted his head. He held onto two of the four parts that made up its pincer and struggled. While the two he held were struggling against him to close, the other two free ones were actively opening and closing. The monster was squealing in anger.

Tate was not dying again! He had to save Grace! He had to—

…The water was turning red…And it wasn’t just coming from the nasty wound on Tate’s leg. He looked to his side and saw Grace. She had a huge wound on her side. She was struggling to hold herself together to keep herself from letting water in her lungs. She was fighting for her life now…

…Tate saw RED. He was ANGRY. He was ENRAGED. All he could think about was making the monster HURT. To KILL. This monster HURT someone he cared about, so he wanted to make the monster HURT as well. To KILL it as REVENGE. 

But before he could act, something felt different. The water turned a familiar murky green. Then the screams. They were back. They always come back. But he stayed focused on the monster. He wanted it to HURT. He wanted to KILL. He wanted REVENGE. He needed to KILL—

“You’re making a grave mistake,” said the familiar voice of Death, “if you chose to kill this beast, it does nothing.”

He didn’t want to listen. Who was she to decide what was best? To KILL or BE KILLED, it made all the difference! And he wanted to KILL this monster! It KILLED someone he cared about! This place had KILLED people he cared about! WHY NOT HE DO THE SAME? WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST TIME HE KILLED, SO THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE! THEY ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, SO WHY NOT HAVE SOME FUN? KILLING IS FUN! IT’S ALWAYS FUN! FUN! FUN! FUN! FUN! FU—

“You’re not angry at the beast. You’re angry at yourself, Tate Frost.”

He stopped for a moment. The beast wasn’t attacking him, not really. It was like they were frozen in time. Time didn’t exist here…Wherever here was. 

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen. After caring for people and then seeing them die, it takes a heavy toll in a seemingly hopeless situation…Now, imagine that, but you have to experience it over…And over…And over…And over again…”

“All you’ve known is kill. Kill to feel something good…There was a point in time where the Player decided that too. But I watched as they hurt others. Killed others. Just for fun. To feel alive again. But it did not last. The hurt came back. They regretted their actions. They fell into deep despair…”

“...I don’t want to see that happen again…Especially not with you…Not anymore…So I suggest you listen closely.”

He was still angry, but…He had a sense she was right…He had to listen.

“Look at Gracelynn Young…Fully.”

He didn’t want to, but he did fully turn his head towards Grace. She was in pain…Her wound had made the water completely red around her…She looked weak…

…But she was still alive.

“I can feel their life force fading…They don't have the chance in the water…They have to breathe…But they can’t get to the surface…Not without you.”

“If you continue to try to kill this beast, they will die. And you will still be angry. But that anger can only be directed at you. And hating yourself is a dark road…You know that. The Player knows that too. You need to focus on the weak soul next to you. Not on killing the beast. They have a chance with you.”

He was angry, but he now understood. He can’t let this anger consume him. He needed to save Grace.

“You helped me…I help you…Now…Make the right choice…Save them.”

He looked back at the beast. It was not worth it. Killing the beast was not worth it. Grace needed him. He had to let it go…

…But he wasn’t just going to let it go unscathed…He was going to give it something to remember him by.

Tate grabbed tightly onto the two claws he had been holding on to and started to pull them apart. The beast was screeching in pain. As it continued to screech, the screams increased. But he kept going. The claws were being forced open more and more. Until finally, there was a cracking sound…

…He ripped the claws off with a sickening pop.

The beast reared in pain. Tate gave it one more kick and swam as fast as he could to Grace. He grabbed her and immediately resurfaced. They both gasped and coughed. He didn’t even realize he had lost his breath as well. 

“Tate!” Shouted Dee. “What happened?! Are you—”

“MOVE!!!” He roared with such anger. They all were frightened and moved into the next room quite a ways in. He came on the platform and into the room, but only walked a few steps in before stopping.

He fell on his knees. He was breathing heavily. He laid Grace on the floor, then scanned her with his eyes. She was wincing in pain. She was not speaking. Her jumpsuit was ripped. The wound was very large on her side. 

Tate was shaking.

“T-Tate?” Alise finally said. “C-Can I come over? I think I can help—”

He yelled in anger and punched his fist on the ground:

“GOD DAMMIT! THIS IS ALL MAH █████’ FAULT! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE CAREFUL! AND THEN I ALMOST GOT HER █████’ KILLED BY TRYIN’ TO KILL THE MONSTER! I’M SUCH A DUMB███!!!”

He kept shouting. He was so pissed, but now he only had himself to be pissed at. He had been so careless! He almost let her die! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his fault! It was all his—

Tate suddenly felt someone hug him from behind. He looked back, like he really wanted to punch someone. But his face dropped when he realized who it was…

…Randall looked at him. He didn’t look scared by Tate’s anger, just more concerned.

Tate’s eyes looked dangerous and unsteady. He was clenching his fists. He had a sense of unbridled rage in him. He was still heavily breathing, growling. But now looking at Randall…He seemed even more ashamed of himself.

“Y-You can’t beat yourself up over this…She wouldn’t want that…”

He took a moment to respond, trying his best not to end up yelling at Randall. “But it is MAH FAULT! I let her █████’ fall off! I almost let her █████’ DIE because I wanted to KILL the damn monster!”

“I-It was a mistake! Mistakes happen! A-And you were only trying to fix—”

 “I ALMOST LET SOMEONE DIE AGAIN, RANDALL!”

Randall flinched. Tate immediately felt bad for yelling.

“I…I-I don’t know what you mean—”

“I knew what Daniel was ‘bout to do when he said those names! I could’ve stopped him! But I din’t! Instead, he died an’ ya got hurt! An’ now Grace got seriously hurt! She might die because of me!”

“Ever since I got revived, things have NEVER been right! I saw ‘em! The people that died! Not just Daniel and Guss, but everyone BEFORE us! I could hear their thoughts! An’ SCREAMS! I thought I was fine! But then right before yer scream woke me up, it all came BACK! The screams came BACK! An’ now I STILL can hear ‘em! Everytime I close my eyes, all I hear are SCREAMS!”

“NO ONE UNDERSTANDS THAT! I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO! IT’S DRIVING ME MAD! AN’ WHAT’S WORSE IS THAT I KNOW I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN REVIVED! I DESERVE DEATH! NOT DANIEL! NOT GRACE! NO ONE ‘ERE DESERVES IT, BUT ME—”

Tate was suddenly slapped. It wasn’t that hard, it barely stung, but it did surprise him and his head moved to the side. He seemed more shocked than anything.

“I…Did ya…Just hit me…?”

Randall realized what he did and yelped, covering his mouth in shock. He didn’t know why he did that! 

“I-I am so sorry!!! But I…I…I-I just couldn’t stand you sitting there and saying you deserve death! No one here deserves death!”

“I—”

“Tate, you have been nothing but protective and kind to us! I don’t know what you did before to end up here…But that doesn’t matter! What matters is what you have been doing here! You were brought back for a reason! Even if it was just your luck, it was for a reason! You told Daniel not to think negatively…Maybe you need to follow your own advice now!”

“...” 

Randall did not know where any of that confidence came from, but he did agree with it. But he was now second guessing himself and thinking he just made Tate more angry.

“...T’Heh…”

“...?”

Tate started slightly laughing, then it steadily increased until he was full blown laughing. Randall was very concerned.

“Tate…? Are you okay…? Why are you—”

“Where the ████ did ya get that confidence?! Yer such an interestin’ rabbit!”

“Huh?!”

“I thought ya were just an anxious rabbit! But then ya got the GUTS to actually █████’ slap me! Ow!” He burst out laughing again. It sounded kind of crazed and his eyes were still shaky, but he didn’t seem to care anymore.

“I-I’m sorry—”

“Why are ya sorry, Bunny?! No one has done that before! An’ I’m not mad ‘bout it either! I goddamn needed that! An’ yer words!”

He hugged Randall close. He was not expecting that and was blushing extremely.

“Thank ya Bunny…”

Randall was internally screaming. He was being held close to Tate. This was the happiest moment so far—

“Heh…You two are cute…Ugh…”

…They both froze. Then they looked down at Grace. She had a smug smile on her face, but there was still pain in it.

“But seriously…You are a dumb███ for blaming yourself…for a death that hasn’t happened…I’m not dying yet…Mmm…”

“GRACE!” They both yelled.

“What…? I’m not gonna die that easily…But it's kinda cold…”

“Oh no ya don’t!” Tate gently tapped her face. “Don’t fall asleep!”

“C-Can I come over now?” Asked Alise. They completely forgot that her, Vee, and Dee were just standing there, watching them.

“Yes! Please!” He exclaimed.

Alise rushed over. Randall started to move away so he wouldn’t be in the way. Tate grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly.

“I meant it, Bunny…Thank ya…” He smiled at him.

Randall blushed again. “N-No problem…” Tate let go and focused on Grace and Alise. Randall regrouped with Vee and Dee.

“I have no idea how she is still alive,” stated Dee, “she is one tough girl!”

“Yeah,” agreed Vee, “But we do not have a medkit. If we do not at least stabilize her, she is bound to die. Even then, she will end up slowing us down.”

“W-We can find a medkit!” Randall said hopefully. “W-We just have to search!”

He started searching around room 51. 

“Randall, I do not think we are going to be that lucky…” Stated Dee.

“W-We have to try!” He went to a table. “T-There has to be some—”

He paused…

“...Huh…?”

“What did you find?” Asked Vee.

“I…I-I found documents…The ones with CLASSIFIED on them…”

“Wait, you mean multiple?” Asked Dee.

“Y-Yeah, two…”

“But that does not help us!” Pointed out Vee. “That is just more information!” 

“Still,” commented Dee, “It is something…Bring them over Randall!”

He brought the documents over. 

“Did y’all happen to find a medkit?” Asked Tate.

“No, but we found those CLASSIFIED documents,” answered Dee, “two this time.”

“Even with a med kit, it is not going to be enough!” Pointed out Alise. “Her wound is too large!”

“Well,” commented Vee, “maybe one of the documents has more information about the beast and we can—”

“Randall, are you alright?” Asked Dee. Randall had opened one of the documents and started clutching it, hard. “Randall, you're going to tear it!”

She grabbed it out of his hands, but then her expression turned grim when she looked in it. “Oh…It is THAT monster…”

“What monster? Which critter is it?” Asked Tate.

“...The one that killed you…”

“Really? Let me see it! I’ve been wonderin’ what that monster was!”

They came over and they all looked in the file:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pandemonium

Z-367 - Codename: Pandemonium was originally discovered submerged near a thermal vent within the Let-Vand zone during initial excavation of the Hadal Blacksite. Z-367's body is structurally similar to decomposing organic tissue and synthetic polymers. However, Z-367 shows no observable signs of life. Its body remains in a perpetual state of decomposition by some unknown mechanism, noted through the consistent presence of mold discovered in biological analysis. The Bio Paranormal Division has postulated that it collects fresh mass from external sources through consumption. Anomalously, it possesses an indeterminate number of intraoral eyes, which appear to function as though alive. However, the Hazard And Ethics Division has deemed further study too dangerous at this time. Top speed is somewhat consistent to that of a mid-sized marine predator.

The internal eyes are deceptively powerful, able to spot movement and subtle shifts in light up to inordinately long distances. If spotted subjects manage to evade Z-367, it will immediately begin hunting in the surrounding area. Spotted targets, inanimate or organic, are observed to be found in all instances. It is unknown what method Z-367 uses for sensory perception, but it seems somewhat capable of primitive reasoning. When living targets are found, Z-367 will attempt to trap them inside an orifice that resembles a toothed mouth. If subjects place barriers between themselves and Z-367, the creature will begin to ram its full body into obstruction, its estimated weight and velocity capable of destroying most unsecured structures. This only subsides after an indefinite amount of time if attempts repeatedly fail.

Though research finds no correlation between the two anomalies, Z-367 shares a similar EMP field generated by Z-283. However, the former's electric charge is recorded as being significantly less powerful, causing devices linked to internal power grids to temporarily malfunction when Z-367 is near- though permanent electrical damages are never suffered by the site infrastructure. The relation between these two subjects has been largely undetermined, however Grade █ Bio Paranormal Researcher Dr. ██████ and his juniors continue to lobby for further research to be conducted. The Hazard and Ethics Division continues to deny all appeals for continued study.

In the event that Z-367 breaches containment, the pulse it emits will cause unsecured blacksite lights to flicker when it is near. Remaining out of Z-367's line of sight is of utmost importance, however all attempts to evade it once spotted are futile if cover is not available. Z-367 is capable of destroying most doors within the blacksite. Locker installations in Blacksite Wing █ are designed to be bulletproof- resort to this if no other option presents itself. In the event that you are spotted, please prostrate yourself in a secure location and wait for the cleanup detail to retrieve your corpse.

The Panopticon Must Hold.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well, that explains why it just waited for me to come out!” Exclaimed Tate. “An’ why it isn’t on the Angler file!”

“Holy ████! Randall could have died!” Pointed out Dee. “Luckily, the locker held up!”

Randall seemed distracted.

“Well, what about the other one?” Asked Alise. “Maybe that is the monster we just dealt with! We can figure something out!”

They opened the second file. The picture was indeed that of the beast in the water:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bottomfeeder

The "Lammelse" species, dubbed "Bottomfeeders" by personnel, is a species of oversized slugs with blood possessing paralytic properties.

Discovered during the initial expedition and excavation of the Hadal Blacksite, the Lammelse species were considered a non-threat and were left undisturbed. No Z-classification has been given at this time due to being considered wild animals.

The "Lammelse" species gets its name after its primary feeding mechanism. The creature will purposefully raise its tail as bait, making it seem like easy pickings for predatory fish. Once spotted, the Lammelse will let the fish bite its tail off. Upon contact with the Lammelse's paralyzing tissue, neurotoxin similar in structure to Botulinum prevents the presynaptic release of acetylcholine, causing muscle paralysis in their victim and rendering them immobile. Once paralyzed, the Lammelse will start rooting itself inside through the fish's mouth into the rest of its innards. The Lammelse will then naturally grow its flesh around the teeth of the fish, anchoring itself in place in its host's cavity.

The Lammelse will then root its skin through the teeth canal and into the vital organs of the fish. And then start consuming biomass directly through these root canals as nutrition. It will then begin to consume biomass directly through these root canals for nutrition. Whenever food is consumed, the Lammelse will transfer a small amount of nutrients to its host in order to maintain it. Biopsy of Lammelse instances has shown that the host on the “tail” end of the Lammelse, while paralyzed, still exhibits neurological activity that suggests consciousness. Once the sustenance needed to keep the host alive becomes unsustainable for the Lammelse, it is discarded.

The Lammelse is, in a way, the natural prey of the Vultus Luminaria. Having co-existed for 80 million years, the Lammelse acts as a sort of "personal food delivery" for any passing Vultus. When a Lammelse spots a Vultus that it cannot escape the path of, it will try to offer a fish stuck onto its tail in order to save itself.

The Lammelse is not to be considered a threat to divers, as they cannot swim upward. Should a diver wearing a Tungvest be walking across the trench and encounter a Lammelse, they should remain calm, strike an intimidating pose, and stand their ground. Most of the time, the Lammelse will be intimidated and slither away. In the event that the Lammelse tries to attack anyway, the diver should be ready to fight it off when it tries to grab them. The Lammelse should quickly realize that it cannot penetrate the heavy plates and slither away. In the very unlikely event that personnel without a Tungvest suit find themselves against a Lammelse on the ocean floor, they should try and make their way to a ledge that it cannot reach. If this is not possible, they should evade the attack by letting it charge, then stepping away from its path.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well, that was useless,” commented Vee, “it told us nothing!”

“It’s fine…” Said Grace, weakly. “Just leave me…The more you stay…The more likely something is going to come…So just save yourselves…”

“No way, I’m not leavin’ ya behind!” Stated Tate. “Ya got this far! Ya can make it a little bit more! I promise!”

She groaned, either from pain or Tate’s stubbornness.

“Well, maybe if we just—” Dee paused and finally noticed Randall was distracted. “Randall, are you okay?”

He was looking at a little piece of paper. He had a nervous expression.

“Randall?” She touched his shoulder and he flinched.

“H-Huh?” He finally was snapped back to reality.

“What is that paper?”

He looked down at it. “I-It’s a note…I-It was with the document…”

“What does it say?” Alise asked, hearing what they were talking about.

He showed the note:

Dear Expendables,

Congratulations! If you are reading this, you have made it to the halfway point. Good job! But if you are expecting a cookie as a reward, you’ll be sorely disappointed. 

You are not the first to make it here and you’ll probably not be the last. But you have proved to be the most experienced by far. I have been watching you for a while now, since the first death.

Do not be alarmed. I am not your enemy here. I am a friend! And as your friend, I have decided to give you a gift: Two documents of information! 

Along with that, I will inform you that you are not that far away from me. My shop is just in the next room, right around the corner. I sell many items to help you on the rest of your journey. Flashlights, Medkits, even Batteries! And many more different items!

See you real soon!

— Your Only Friend

“Who is this?” Asked Vee.

“Doesn’t matter!” Exclaimed Tate. “They said they sell medkits!”

“B-But what currency?” Asked Alise. “We don’t have money!”

“We’ll figure it out…” He scooped up Grace and sped-walked towards the door. “We have no choice…”

They all hesitated before finally following Tate to room 52. As soon as they entered, they noticed it was quite dark.

Tate shouted. “Hey! Where are ya?! Ya said ya had medkits! We need help!”

Nothing for a moment…

…Then a flood light came on. It pointed at a vent. The vent popped open. Then, a voice called out:

“Hello Friends!~ I’m right over here!~ Don’t be afraid…I don’t bite~”

Chapter Text

They all stood still. They hadn’t realized how long it had been since they heard a voice other than their own voices. Not just a voice, but a HUMAN voice! Sure, the AI talked, but it was obviously not human. Eyefestation only talked through the mind and Lady Death was that of a divine being. The guy on the intercom talked to them at certain points, but he sounded like he was talking from a script. But this person, or being, sounded HUMAN and PHYSICALLY here!

The voice was normal. It had some gravel in it and was mysterious. But it was still normal. They hadn’t yet met a being that actually SOUNDED friendly!

But if this was another human, why were they here?

“Been so long since you all heard a friendly voice huh? I understand how jarring it must all be, but I promise you…I am indeed a friend~”