Chapter Text
A mouse wandered into a trap, blindly following the smell of cheese. Upon walking into the trap, it was quickly caged by the mechanism surrounding it, and now it was left at the mercy of whoever happened to find it, if anyone did.
This was, of course. A metaphor. There are no mice at the bottom of the ocean. And if there were it would be safe to assume that they’d be the size of a possum due to deep-sea gigantism. This would be because of extremely low temperatures caused by lack of sun, it’s like how water expands when it freezes. Interesting, isn’t it?
Like the mouse, a prisoner with an indiscernible name had boarded a tram to seemingly nowhere, another part of the facility, perhaps? It had appeared they’d been drawn in by something, something they’d been itching to see ever since they’d gotten close to it. Despite the radios decoded throughout their journey, they seemed to have not heeded the bad ending in the recordings. Something in their mind drew them closer despite everything they’d been through. They needed whatever was inside that goddamn sphere.
”Looks like somebody’s been getting awfully nosy lately!”
And that’s what made them end up meeting someone who felt the devil incarnate.
The prisoner jumped at the sudden noise. The voices seemed to echo through the tram as it exited the tunnel and entered a cavern, a large pool of lava at the bottom. The prisoner could feel the heat on their face as soon as the lava was visible, it certainly wasn’t the most comfortable… There were three voices that sounded as if they were talking over eachother whilst saying the exact same things at the exact same time. Tripled would be the correct word…
”Gotta say, very impressive that you went above and beyond like this! Did someone else tell you how to get here?”
How did they know?
”Anyways, I digress. See that big sphere? That’s “The Vault”. What you came for lies inside.”
The centrepiece of the cavern was indeed a big orange sphere, a bridge leading up to it. What was even in that thing? If Urbanshade had put it under such heavy containment that it gets its own place in Mantle Extraction, it must be important, right?
”Anyhow, The Audience LOVES fresh talent. And I believe that YOU are the exact person my show needs! How about this? You stand in the spotlight for a good couple minutes… and I give you free backstage access to the contents of The Vault!”
Absolutely fucking not?
“Wait wha—“
”I’ll be taking your lack of response as a yes! Filming will begin as soon as you pick up that first token fragment.”
And just like that, the tram arrived at a tram station that felt like you were standing in the middle of a desert on a hot summer day. And from the looks of it, it was probably just as, if not even more dangerous too.
The prisoner stepped out of the tram, the heat was even worse here. Sighing, they began rummaging through the very few item lockers scattered around. Might as well be prepared for whatever those freaks were about to throw at them. If you looked past their charismatic demeanour, they were sketchy as hell.
After rummaging through the lockers and finding absolutely nothing, they continued up the stairs and opened the door marked with a green smiley face. In the middle of the room was a table, on it was a black and white shard emitting white sparkles. Must be that ‘token fragment’ they’d been told about. They drew closer but something else managed to catch their eye. The door at the far end of the hallway opened and out stepped The Crooked. Its toothy grin plastered across its face, its claws hanging down by its sides. Of course that thing would be here…
Staring the creature down, the prisoner snatched the token and jumped as those voices started talking again. Creepy.
”Put on a good performance, you’re the star of the show now, darling~!”
That wasn’t a good thing. They knew that. They had the common sense to after all (but apparently not the common sense to not get on a random tram during a lockdown). But the pet-name still reddened their face quite a bit.
Snapping out of it, they moved past the crooked into the next room, they could’ve sworn they saw something pink in the distance, inching ever closer. Picking up a few more discs— about two, and making their way to the next room, the voices chimed in again.
”Oh! That pink guy in your peripheral vision? They’re just here to cause tension. It’ll take about, say, five minutes before he reaches you? Better put some spring in your step!”
Fuck there was a timer. Of course there fucking was.
Rushing into the next room, they pick up about five more fragments, The Crooked following closely behind them. After grabbing about ten fragments total, the voices speak once more.
”Bet you’re getting pretty bored of this guy already. Remember your co-stars from before? How about we… bring them back into the schedule~?”
NONONONONO—
The Crooked leaves the prisoner to get into a locker, they follow suit and wait for the wailing of ‘Pipsqueak’. The locker was cramped and warm, the prisoner started to get panicky, what if the locker wouldn’t open? What if they’d be trapped in there for the remaining five minutes? A crash against the locker snapped them out of their state of panic. Those piercing eyes stared into the prisoner’s before the creature retreated. Quickly, they exited the locker, composing themself enough to collect more fragments. They were like a vacuum with those things.
The next room held five more fragments, meaning they had 15 total. However, there was also another creature, made of concrete and steel with a single eye in the middle of what appeared to be its ‘head’. The prisoner used the flash beacon to scare it off, just as they had done in the construction site, only to find themselves being turned around by The Crooked and bashed in the head by its colossal fists. They rubbed their now bleeding head, they’d only looked away for three seconds.. it was like The Crooked had run up to them just to do that… maybe it did. The Crooked pulled them back to their feet and dusted them off. What a ‘gentleman’.
The next room quickly arrived with five more tokens laying in item lockers, which were tricky to retrieve due to The Crooked being ever present.. 20 fragments in— that wasn’t bad, right?
Gas smelling of iron and sulfur began to fill the rooms, causing the prisoner to cough and put their oxygen mask on. The voices spoke once more.
”Smell that? That’s the tension building!”
What was this guy’s obsession with tension?!
The next room held four more tokens, however due to there being a ruptured pipe blowing out high-pressure steam that was blocking the exit, the prisoner had to turn a valve to turn it off, wasting another 10 seconds of their time.
It had been about three minutes now, it was the fastest three minutes they’d ever experienced, but also somehow the slowest.
24 tokens had been collected, The Crooked jumped into a locker once more, but the prisoner had run out of oxygen and was trying to reach the next tank. However, upon hearing the wails of Pipsqueak, they closed themself into the locker. Coming out of it as a breathless corpse.
The prisoner awoke in a dark void. Where were they? Was this what lied after death?
”That’s show-biz for ya!”
Those goddamn voices… If they had to sit here and listen to this… creature talk for all of eternity they would double kill themselves.
Three pairs of bright white eyes slowly appeared. The outer pairs seemed to be tied to the inner pair. The prisoner could’ve sworn they saw some hint of a mask peeking out of the darkness.
Nothing but silence left the prisoner’s mouth, they had so many questions but nothing came out.
”I’m sure you’re wondering who I am, yes?”
A simple nod, it hurt to look at those eyes, it was like staring into the sun.
”Look at me and I’ll tell you.”
Teased the eyes. It was as if they knew that they hurt to look at and just enjoyed torturing them. They probably did. Fucking sadists.
Reluctantly, the prisoner met their gaze. Ow. Did they just get closer? They swore they could see more of that mask than before.
“Very good.”
The prisoner could hear them clear their throat.
”You may call me ‘The Hosts’.”