Chapter Text
The offices of the Archives were not a particularly safe working environment, you had learnt. Being run over by drones every few hours wasn't very pleasant.
Their big boss, Honcho, had been the first to know of you when you arrived.
He'd been searching for some lost files within the drawers of Sector A and only glanced over at you when he'd realised your existence meant a new employee.
After that, you ended up sorting boxes for what you assumed to be a few months until he deemed you… Efficient? Trustworthy? Enough to wander back to Sector A and watch the drones go back and forth between their shifts.
Apparently, the job was to make sure they got to work on time.
Not an issue, they went to clock in fast enough to trample you over whenever you forgot to move out the way.
Unfortunately, the repetition was beginning to bore you a little. It wasn't like you could just waltz into Honcho's office and ask for a break. He's kinda... unstable.
That being said, there wasn't much you could do.
....
"PIZZA PARTY FOR HONCHO WORKER EFFICIENT"
Bold capital letters sat emblazoned on a poster a passing drone had managed to slap directly onto your face as it fled to its 9 to 5 shift of standing in a room looking useful and likely nothing more.
Huh. A pizza party. Those were mostly thrown for top workers. And you doubted your wonderful dedicated job of sitting around napping as the drones rushed back and forth would get you listed as one, but hey, free pizza, don't mind if I do.
Checking the paper out, you noticed there was something on the back and promptly flipped it around.
"GOOD WORKER
GO TO OFFICE A50 ELEVATOR DOWN TO H CAREFUL NOT EMPLOYEES EXIST
MONEY ELEVATE"
You could only assume that meant for you to head to Sector H.
To take an elevator in A-50… you remember going up the one in the same room when Honcho put you for the different job you do now.
Would take a few hours to get to A-50 alone, but at the same time, walking and able to explore the other sectors beat sitting around doing nothing all day.
Standing up from the chair you sat on, you yawned and stretched.
Before immediately sitting back down.
And spun around a few times trying to move forward without getting up.
After recognising your failure, you sadly did in fact have to get up and move on your own two legs.
Walking along, you counted the gold pieces in your pocket. You knew from the first time around that the machine to cross sectors required money.
Let's see... you had 110 coins. Not bad, but not enough to get to Sector H just yet.
Fortunately, gold pieces were littered about the floor as you went, providing hopefully enough money to get at least to Sector C.
Suddenly, a loud "ding-dong" blasted through the intercom, signaling for the drones to get off work.
Panic surging through your veins, you sprinted toward a part of the room you were in out of the path of the drones.
Or, at least, you tried to sprint toward a part of the room you were in out of the path of the drones.
You failed.
As the last of the drones left, you blinked open your eyes (which had been closed as you braced for impact) to find another poster slapped on your face.
"HONCHO SEE WORKER GO TO H VERY GOOD"
Followed by a photocopied image of a pizza slice glued onto the paper. Honcho was likely very proud of his work.
Snorting, you lifted the page from your poor head, to notice two cardboard tubes attached to the back.
Looks like he got me some extra coin rolls too.
They'd be useful when you got to the elevator.
Speaking of which, what door were you even on?
Glancing up as you got to your feet, you noticed there were only ten rooms left till A-50.
Nearly there.
.....
When you did eventually arrive at your destination, another paper was there to greet you.
"USE COIN HERE WORKER"
Taped to it, another bunch of coin rolls.
Apparently you didn't have to spend time looking through drawers for money.
Either way, you probably wouldn't have gotten enough without Honcho's help anyway.
Tapping the screen of a little machine that sat next to the elevator, you inserted your (Honcho's) gold into it.
A ping, and the elevator arrived to take you to Sector H.
You made your way in and sighed.
Wish these elevators had elevator music. I could make up a beat on the spot and it'd be better than just the whirring.
Without a pause after the thought, you started beatboxing.
Heh. I call this "Elevator Jam."
I'm amazing.
You grinned to yourself as the elevator pinged once more and opened its doors for you to leave.
As you stepped out, you noticed another paper attached to a computer welcoming you to the sector.
"HELLO WORKER EFFICIENT
NON HONCHO EMPLOYEE EXIST HERE
HIDE WHEN PAPER AND ANGRY BURN GUY
REMEMBER THING FLOWER
MONEY GUY DONT MOVE GET MONEY
TICKET
FIH"
Well, you had no clue what that meant.
Heading down the escalator toward H-001, you stuffed the page in your pocket. Maybe you'd need it later.
Who knows, maybe you'd need it the very next door.
You didn't.
The one after that, however, was a room littered with pages covered in drawings.
You rushed toward the next door, frantically pulling on the handle.
It wouldn't open.
Panicking, you scrunched open Honcho's poster/letter/whatever.
What did it say about the paper again...
Yeah, your memory wasn't exactly sharp.
"HIDE WHEN PAPER AND ANGRY BURN GUY"
Ah.
No wonder the ground was beginning to shake.
Sprinting to a nearby closet, you threw the previous contents to the ground and stepped inside.
Everything shook some more, and a great ball of paper with just a little bit of ink was all you saw through the crack of the doors.
After the moment passed and it all fell still, you stepped back outside.
Only to look up at a nearby clock and realise the drones were about to clock in.
Letting a rather forceful breath out, you climbed back in the closet.
A "ding-dong" over the loudspeakers, and the little inky guys stampeded from one room to the next.
Finally, you came out of the closet for real and headed down to the next door.