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"Just- let me get this straight. Someone came through the gate while Poof was on duty?"
"Yes, Poof was supposed to be on duty."
"And Poof says he just started burning things down with no reason?"
"In the only report we've gotten from him so far."
"Did any of the security camera footage survive?"
"Grey was able to salvage everything before the blackout. I haven't gone over it yet, I've been busy with containment."
"Can you access it now?"
Agent navigated to a different portion of the evidence folder and opened the video inside, then turned his tablet so the other could see it. The two of them watched the video in silence for a few minutes.
"Navigate back a few seconds. There," the other, known only as Vic to all but his closest friends, pointed at the screen. "He didn't just start blasting. I think he's reacting to Poof. Do we know what he said?"
". . . I'll get him on call."
Agent pulled out his walkie-talkie and turned on the mic. "This is Rocket Security Chief, is anyone near the witnesses? Over."
There was a moment of static, then another voice came on the line. "Yeah, I'm out here by the fire trucks. All the people we evacuated are still here. Over."
"I need a word with the primary witness, can he talk right now? Over."
"Yeah, the EMTs finished checking him over a while ago. Let me get him for you."
Another voice came onto the line. "Um, hi boss. What do you need?"
Agent handed his walkie-talkie to Vic, who needed no explanation on how to operate it.
"Hello, and I'm glad you're doing okay. Can you walk me through exactly what happened before and after the gate opened?"
"Uh . . . Okay. Sure. I . . . I was doing paperwork. Finishing the reports on the new product sales. I had backups of the hard copies stored back at my office, it shouldn't be too hard to replace those, though it might be a little while before I can get them to you-"
"Focus. The gate."
"Right! Then, the um, the intra-code-skygate - I still don't know half of how that works, there's clearly nothing on the other end - well, it started glowing, and I didn't notice at first, but then I sat back to stretch and it was glowing! Then someone actually fell through! Like, poof! Someone appears, out of nowhere! So I get up and run over to make sure he's alright, and the guy sets his hands on fire and starts lobbing fireballs at me, so I called security, and now . . . Well . . . The fires are almost all out."
"Can I ask what exactly you said when the person fell through?"
"Sure? I was so surprised to see the gate come online, I think I said . . . 'Oh, wow! We actually got one!'"
"You said 'We actually got one', to a slave we just freed. As soon as he came out of the gate."
"Um. Yes? Is that . . . Bad?"
Vic sighed. "Yes, but you had no way of knowing that. I'll add that to regulations for anyone on greeting duty. Thanks for finding a hole in procedures. It won't happen again. Now, I think you should have a day or two off. You've had a stressful one today."
"Oh! Thank you!"
"Have a good one. Over and out." Vic turned of the microphone and handed the walkie-talkie back to Agent. "That could explain the outburst, and if not, at least it gives us something to work with while talking to him. Now. Where was the stranger detained?"
Agent opened the door to the office, then shut it behind him as he led Vic out and down the hall. "We've been keeping him under control with some of the more experimental security technology. The faster anyone can talk him down, the better. There haven't been any alerts over the intercom, but I don't know how long the guys can keep him from breaking out."
"This is going to be quite the story when Mitsi gets back from the conference with the shareholders."
"As long as I don't have to explain why the warehouse needs to be rebuilt from the ground up in some places."
"That was under the nonprofit, wasn't it?"
"I . . . You'd have to ask someone in finance. I don't know."
Vic was a little bothered by how far into the facility they were going. He reasoned that it was more logical to keep a superpowered, extremely destructive person as far away from society, the city, and the innocents who lived there as possible, but he really didn't like how restrictive it would probably be for the stick figure who was probably expecting freedom at the other end. While Vic still did not know exactly which basement room they were headed to, he knew they were getting closer when he heard the sounds of fire extinguishers and electricity sparking.
Agent knocked on the door of testing lab 5. It was reinforced and had a single bulletproof glass window, through which Vic could see half the security team putting out fires and a few other members watching the person who was frozen in place and handcuffed to a chair. Electric arcs sparked off of the prisoner's form, and his jaw was set in an expression that Vic recognized from himself, back near the beginning of his life in a time he preferred to never think about.
When the door opened, Vic took one of the other chairs in the room and sat down across from the person who could very easily kill him in an instant. He trusted Agent and his security team, even if he was shaking a little at the prospect of facing the person from the camera footage, who had single-handedly burned down the warehouse.
"Can he hear me right now?" Vic asked, looking at the pause field around the prisoner.
"We don't think so, but he's been able to break the freeze a few times, so we can't be sure."
Vic sighed. "All right then. Officer, can you fetch the box of donuts from the break room?"
"Aren't we not supposed to bring food into the labs, boss?"
"Have you seen the state of this lab? A few crumbs aren't going to matter, and I want to make sure whoever this is is comfortable."
Officer nodded once and dashed away down the hall, and Vic tapped his foot on the ground while he waited for him to get back. Then, he stood up and moved one of the only mobile desks in the room to sit between him and the arsonist that he really hoped could be talked down. He paced the room a couple of times before sitting down again.
What could this person's life have been like? He looked injured, and a bit bruised, but perfectly clean. He had a look in his eyes that Victim found far too familiar, and it made him wish Mitsi could also be here for this. She could probably talk down anyone.
Then again, Victim hadn't been setting everything in sight on fire when he escaped his creator.
Finally, Officer arrived back with the donuts, and there were still a few left, so he took one for himself before instructing the security team to clear the pause field.
The arsonist started thrashing, and his eyes started glowing as his hands lit on fire, so Vic did the only thing he could think to do to get his attention.
"Donut?" Vic said, holding his own in front of his face in the way that always made Mitsi laugh so much.
That actually worked. The arsonist stopped for a second and stared at the box in front of him. Then, he stared at Vic with his unsettling red eyes. Vic had to remind himself that helping people was his idea, and everyone deserved a chance at freedom. He didn't know where this guy came from, or what his situation was.
". . . What?" the arsonist said. His voice sounded extremely raspy, like he'd never used it in his life.
"You're here because you clicked the freedom popup. Sorry about the welcoming committee, we don't get many animations coming through here. Coming through to our warehouse was probably really scary-"
The other person tipped his chair back, set himself on fire, and burnt his handcuffs until they were white-hot and melted away from his wrists. The security team tackled him with the fire extinguishers and tied him to the chair again.
"-so you started burning things down, and fighting back. That's understandable, but we can't let you hurt anyone. Please, calm down for one second, and I will explain everything, you are free, okay!"
The arsonist stood up and incinerated the chair with one motion, then lunged across the table and grabbed Vic's shirt collar with one hand and set his other hand on fire.
"Then let . . . Me . . . Go."
Vic didn't even have time to react before the security team had frozen the arsonist, pulled him back, and cuffed him to the desk.
"Are you all right, Vic?" Agent stood by Vic, sublty checking him for injuries.
"I'm doing alright," Vic said, taking a moment to feel the fear, let his heart slow down, and let his breathing even out. "Unpause him again. We can make this work."
"Are you sure, boss?"
"If we can't help him, nobody will. I started FreeTheStickMen to help people, and I knew it wasn't going to be easy."
Victim sat down again, and imagined repairing the table to help himself keep calm. He took a bite of his own donut, which was a bit stale, swallowed it, and signalled the security team again.
The arsonist growled in a way that sounded like an animal, and breathed fire all over the ceiling.
"Let's start simple. I'm victim. What's your name?"
That got a pause out of the arsonist. He stopped breathing fire and squinted, causing a few of the security team to brace themselves. "Why . . . You . . . Look like . . . Me?"
"Because I'm like you. I was created by an animator, and I . . ." Victim's voice cut off. Everything in his throat felt all twisted and tight, and his mind started replaying the same feeling of seeing a cursor, the helplessness he had mostly left behind, the pictures he drew, how much he wished Mitsi were there, and- "I escaped. But I couldn't stop thinking about how there might be others out there, like me, so my partner suggested doing something to help people like me."
"Why . . . Do . . . You have . . . My Face?" the arsonist clarified.
"I . . ." Victim looked closer at the arsonist and realized . . . He had a point. He did look quite a bit like a slightly younger version of himself. His face had been too set in anger earlier, but now the resemblance was uncanny. "I don't know. I don't know very many other escaped animations, so it might be a coincidence . . . But, while I have your attention, let me explain exactly what's happening.
"When you clicked on the popup, our code broke any chains that your creator might have put on you and opened a path to the Outernet. That path redirected you to our warehouse, where you were met by one of our employees. That employee was supposed to greet you and explain the next steps in our program. Whenever someone comes through, we provide them with support and help integrating into normal society."
The arsonist narrowed his eyes, then looked across the room, off to the side and sighed.
"We want to set you free. We want to do that for you. But we need to know that you're not going to hurt anyone."
"The Chosen One," the arsonist said softly, eyes closed as he slumped down in his chair.
"What?" Victim sat up.
"My name is The Chosen One . . . Pop-up blocker." The Chosen One turned back to Victim. "I want to be free."
Hearing his tired, strained tone of voice hurt Victim inside. "Then let me introduce you to the world as a free person, The Chosen One."
Victim held out a hand, and signaled to the security team to release The Chosen One, which they promptly did. The Chosen One stood up, rubbed his wrists where the handcuffs had been, then, after halting for a breath, took Victim's hand and shook it once.
With a nod from Vic, the officers backed off and opened the doors to the lab. Vic led The Chosen One down the halls and to the elevator, pointing out various facilities and projects that were running at Rocket Corp. The Chosen One didn't say a word, but nodded at some things as his eyes darted around to take in everything.
"We have housing at our facility for those who need it. You can stay there while we help you look for an place to stay in the city," Vic said, pointing out another wing of the buildings. "The cafeteria food is excellent. My partner and I hired the best nutritionist and chef we could find to run the kitchen."
The Chosen One looked confused, but said nothing to that.
"Feel free to ask any questions you may have."
The Chosen One hesitated. "What's food?"
Victim winced at that. "Food is what we eat for energy and nutrition. It keeps us going out here. I . . . Take it you're hungry? You might experience this as a feeling of emptiness or pain in your abdomen."
The Chosen One tilted his head. "Uh . . . No."
Vic filed that away, and wondered how long The Chosen One was trapped after his creation.
"Well, if you don't need anything, neither do I. I already had dinner at my office. Now, the last place on the tour is something you should probably wait to explore until morning, but we can go see the view now."
Vic led the way out through the front doors and into the parking lot. The gardens around the main entrance were Mitsi's idea. There were some plants that were purely decorative, and different ones that bore fruit and different times for most of the year, in case someone needed a snack right before or after work.
There was a sound of fire igniting, and Vic turned around to see that The Chosen One had disappeared and was now rocketing up into the night sky. Vic followed the glow of his fire as it flew in the direction of the city, and realized he should probably call in a hoverbike crew to go stop him if he still had destruction on his mind. Then, when the orange speck veered towards the sea, Vic relaxed. He watched the glow out there, then saw it slowly but steadily get larger, fly even higher until it was right above Rocket Corp's building so Vic had to crane his neck to look at it, then cut out completely.
Vic jumped for his communicator, preparing to call for backup even as he ran over to where the light must have been falling, anything to catch The Chosen One before he hurt himself. He had been expecting mental health issues, he'd seen depression in the few other people in their program, but this-
A few feet from the ground, the fires reignited just enough to slow The Chosen One's fall before he landed on his own two feet.
"I- I had to see the sky," The Chosen One said. "It's . . . It's beautiful."
"It really is," Vic said. "Nobody's ever mapped out the edges of the world. We don't know where the sky ends, or if it even does. But, that's not the most beautiful thing about this world."
He left the silence there, so The Chosen One would have to ask if he wanted to know. Learning how to interact with others and ask for things would be key for his adjustment to society.
The Chosen One answered the call. "What could be more beautiful than freedom?"
"People."