Chapter Text
Yin had never done drugs harder than nicotine but he was fairly certain he was high to some degree. Or about to pass out.
Whatever the case he could see clearly enough to know where he could put his feet and hear clearly enough to know Huggy hadn't slowed down.
DogDay must have been a little high too, considering how well he was keeping up despite actively bleeding through the carpet around his waist. Yin couldn't keep track of where they were going but he could duck and slide through the conveyor belts well enough to stay ahead of the blue freak behind them.
Halls blurred to narrow points and a rise of catwalks. Then more halls and more halls and don't stop don't stop don't stop—!
An elevator. Dead ahead. The doors were open, just had to get through them.
"Hey!"
Who was DogDay calling to?
Yin balked. He saw it. Something was in the elevator already, something big, vaguely egg-shaped. The doors shut it in.
No matter. Another elevator. Got into it. Which button closed the doors?
Close the doors close the doors!
Huggy rounded the corner and lunged. His teeth scraped across metal.
Silence. Mostly. The two were wheezing.
Yin held his head. DogDay held his waist. Both groaned. Yin's left eye wasn't working right, a doughnut of darkness blotting out most of his vision. His right eye was watering. He really had to take it easy with his head the way it was. And his body. If only the only doctor left in this place wasn't a sadist. Or dead.
DogDay looked up. "Do you hear that?"
A second later it was all they could hear, that familiar screech of a lanky blue security measure that then landed on top of the elevator. Its brakes pulled the car to a stop and the doors partially opened.
Yin went to pull the doors open a little more to get a better look. Meanwhile Huggy punched through the roof and groped around for them. DogDay grabbed the arm and yanked. A heavy thud resulted, followed by a howl.
Yin flinched but managed to get the doors open a ways. There was a hand scanner on the shaft wall to open the outer doors which Yin aimed for.
Huggy decided to return the arm pulling favor and grabbed the GrabPack arm, yanking hard. The cable whined but Yin was pulled against the elevator wall. The GrabPack crunched. DogDay made a grab for Yin's leg. Huggy pulled again and Yin's head hit the wall. Something on the GrabPack snapped and it slipped off his shoulders.
DogDay pulled him away from the ajar doors. "H-hold on, Angel! I think it's going to—!"
The negative G's worsened the stars sparking through Yin's eyes before they hit the bottom of the shaft and everything, again, went dark.
Yin lay on his side, watching… something move. The something was large, vaguely egg-shaped, and fluffy, though that might be his vision blurring. It was leaned over something and handling it. He heard DogDay groan weakly. Was the toy nearby? It was too dim to make much out.
The big something parted from the middle and opened up. DogDay's limp body was dragged into the open space and then closed inside. Yin squinted, trying to make sense of it. He reached out. He wanted the big thing to give DogDay back. His hand shook and he had to let it fall.
The big thing padded closer. Large yellow hands waved and signed. "Friend," they said. "Safe."
Yin could make out some details now. Red fur, a big yellow belly, huge eyes. No visible teeth or claws or threatening monologues so hopefully this one was friendly. Yin curled his hand. "Help," he said weakly.
The big guy nodded. "Help you. Friend." He then lifted Yin into his arms against his warm, remarkably soft fur.
Yin almost fell asleep right there. It was like being carried by a pillow. His new friend lumbered through dim, stinking halls that occasionally snarled but always moved aside when the bigger toy growled.
Yin's blinks got longer and longer. At one point he opened his eyes to a little plastic star propped on his arms that shone a light down the hall. A digital face chirped at him and he smiled.
A little while more and Yin blinked aware to a voice.
"Is he even awake? E-either of them?"
The pillow holding Yin grunted.
"Geez. Let's get them back to the safehouse, then. And quick. Didn't think I'd finally meet the Butcher like this."
Yin scowled. The Butcher? Who was that? Sounded dangerous, whoever it was. His carrier grunted again and another smaller face poked into his field of view. Yin's vision still wasn't focusing but he could make out ruddy brown skin and a pink eye.
"Oh, you are awake!" said the little one. "Name's Giblet. You're the one they've been talking about, ain't'cha? The one who put Mommy in the grinder, who shut down the Doctor, went toe-to-toe with Doey!" He wiggled his fingers. "'Poppy's Angel', hahah. Down here, they're callin' you the Playtime Butcher. You uh… you don't look too good. Didn't expect to see you all the way down here, but Chum says you didn't exactly plan this."
Yin shook his head slowly. He was having a little trouble following what Giblet was saying. He just wanted to sleep. So of course, Giblet wouldn't let him and kept rambling.
"You were with Poppy, weren't you? And the rest up at Safe Haven? We uh… heard things."
Yin's hands were resting on his chest so he opened one hand to make a loose sign. "Tired." The big guy carrying him grunted. Giblet's ears perked. "Oh, uh, sorry. We can talk more when we get to my place. A-and when you've rested. And we've taken care of DogDay. Gosh, I can't believe he's still alive."
The rest of the walk to Giblet's little safe place was mercifully quiet. It wasn't much, a square room full of junk that made space for a cot, a sink, table, generator, and corkboard. Giblet admitted it too. "I know it's not much, but I got plans anyway. I'm not gonna be down here forever."
Yin was set back on his feet near the cot and he immediately sat on it, thanking the big guy who nodded. Yin kept his attention. "Thanks for your help. My name is Yin."
The big guy beamed. "You welcome. I Chum. Friend." His signs were slow and a little garbled due to the lack of a fifth finger but Yin didn't care much. This was the first living thing he'd met in this place who could truly speak his language. The elation made him dizzy. Or maybe that was the head trauma.
Shoot, Giblet was still talking and he wasn't paying attention.
"… wanting to kill the Prototype. I mean, that is where you're headed right? I'm not any sort of hero, but I can help you. We gotta get you outfitted first. You're not gonna last down here with just the clothes on yer back and that little nightlight."
The star shaped nightlight in question chirped indignantly next to Yin's thigh. Curious, he picked it up and looked it over. It was bigger than he expected, nearly the size of his outstretched hand. There were a few buttons on it and a slot for tapes. He clicked a switch and the light turned on. Another button turned on a blacklight. An elastic strap hung below it.
The little face on the screen was cute. Yin tapped at it and it grinned and beeped in response. How interactive.
Meanwhile, Chum dragged over the table and swept it clean, then his stomach opened like a hatch and a damp, unconscious DogDay was spat onto the table.
Yin looked aghast. Chum noticed and closed his mouth, turning away bashfully. "Sorry."
Giblet seemed used to it. "Aw geez, he's in bad shape. Chum, how fast can you—"
Chum dashed out the door. Giblet chuckled. "He's gonna set a new record or somethin'."
The star in Yin's hands whined. Yin looked down and it displayed a sleeping face with Z's in the corner. Could it tell he was tired? He wanted to check on DogDay, though. But, as he moved to stand the star beeped loud and insistant. Yin grumbled.
"Hey, don't worry, Butcher. We got this. You rest for a bit. Chum will be back soon and DD will be fine. Promise." Giblet was at DogDay's side already and rummaging in a box for something.
Well, if they insisted. He fit his hand through the band on the star and let it sit on his wrist. It beeped a happy two-tone and made its sleeping face again. Yin laid down on the cot and shut his eyes. Not as cozy as Safe Haven, but he wasn't going to complain.
As he slept a few voices wormed into his hazy dreams. "Needle big enough?" "Should be fine." "I can't believe it." "Give some to him."
The star on his arm let out a squeal that woke him. He looked over at his extended hand to glare at it but instead saw Giblet sitting on his forearm with a large needle about to touch his inner elbow. A needle attached to a syringe. A syringe full of something sickly pink.
Yin cried out and tried to move but Chum's large hands landed on him and held him down. Giblet yelped but stayed on Yin's arm. "H-hold him down, Chum! Sorry, Butcher, but I promise this'll help you, okay?"
No way Yin was believing that! Chum pinned his chest down with one arm and his hand with the other. Yin yelled and it hurt his head and his voice broke but the needle sank into his arm just above his inner elbow. Giblet slapped the plunger down.
Yin screamed.
It burned. It burned it burned it burned it burned!
It broke through his skin and muscle and bone and marrow and clawed through his arm and hand and fingers and his shoulder and neck and across his face and gripped his head his head it hurt it throbbed it burst it burned it burned it burned it burned IT BURNED.