Prot0type (Teen + OC + Eclipse) SB Ruin Fanfic

Chapter Three

So my head and just about the rest of my body hurts.

Our cart fell, and Cass is farther away than ever. Eclipse helped me hide when I was unconscious, and he couldn't really do much besides that. There hasn't been any sign of MXES either, so someone blocked his access.

Great.

"Cassie made the carts work again, at least," Eclipse says. "We just need to get one on the track and we can follow her again!"

We're all the way at the station. Below us is a deactivated floor sign bot-the screaming and begging comes back to mind. Cass has been deactivating those a lot. I see a cart that we might be able to use in the AR world. I thought that MXES would be able to access the Prototype network, since there is still wi-fi and Internet, but there's no sign of him. He's following Cass, not me.

Then I need to make myself a threat.

"Eclipse, Kirby, is there a way to the closest security node without bumping into Cass?" I ask.

"Bonnie's Bowl," Kirby says. It's a wonder how fast they gave me an answer. "The sensor there hasn't picked up on any visitors yet, so we have time to put you in danger."

"We're not going to put her in danger! MXES will recognize me and listen to what I need to say to him! He's many things, but he wouldn't kill a child!" Eclipse replies. He still has more to say, but it looks like he doesn't know how to say it.

"I'm not going to get hurt," I say. "If I do, then he'd see that he's gotten the wrong one. He might help us if we explain everything to him."

Eclipse goes quiet. He's shaking. I don't know what to say either. Really, I'm just trying to help everyone see sense.

"MXES is just doing his job, right? Then he might explain what Cass is about to let loose."

Eclipse can only nod. He's so silent when Kirby leads us to a ledge. She explains that I need to put my mask on to see the doorway, so I do what she told me to do. A doorway full of light almost blinds me, pointed at the stage where a large Monty hologram stands. All three of us walk through it, one at a time, and we're on the stage.

That just leads to more questions.

Are there any more of these?

"Take off your mask when we get to the backstage," Kirby says. "Faz-icians aren't permitted to take their mask off in front of an audience."

"I'm not even a technician. I don't have the gear techs use."

"We can find you a working Faz-Wrench when we get to the bowling alley. We can't waste any more time here if you want to save your friend."

That's the moment Kirby's eyes turn a sunset orange. Only for a second, but it's still terrifying nonetheless. Seeing royal purple turn to a corroded copper orange, and then back. Whatever Cass is chasing might be getting to Kirby.

I don't suggest taking a break. We need to get to the alley as soon as we can.

I take off the mask as soon as we walk backstage. There's a door, and the pile of Monty merchandise seems smaller than the grand tower in the AR. A deactivated floor sign bot is there, head hanging helplessly. But there's only the scream of a few children, unlike the first ones I saw. They're still begging, crying, screaming, but not as much. I can only make out three or four-maybe five children-screaming. I'm not very good with listening to a bunch of screams and finding out how many there are.

Besides, we have some work to do.

A door behind the pile leads us straight down a set of stairs. The door was blocked until Eclipse and I pushed on it, and whatever was holding it closed fell down the stairs. This must be the STAFF tunnels!

I walk down first, seeing how the fallen object has shaken Eclipse. He doesn't need anyone to scare him right now. He's the strongest person here. I also like having him around because, well, he's my "friend forever".

I lead everyone to another door across a catwalk. Below us, it's flooded with murky water. Something is crawling around nearby, but we should be okay. I open the door for Eclipse and Kirby and close it right behind me. Eclipse looks back at me before he pushes a few boxes over the door. Hopefully Cassie doesn't get lost.

We walk straight to Bonnie's Bowl, twisting and turning through the halls, trying to follow the out-of-date map. We get to a dead end once, but we find our way right after that.

A smaller versions of the DJ-Baby Spiders!-are everywhere. They don't pay attention to any three of us, they're just sleeping or vibin' with other active Baby Spiders. Why would I want to disturb them? Why must I disturb the smoll spider children?

"There's a Faz-wrench over there. I can go get that and you can work on finding the Child Nodes," Eclipse says. I refuse being far away from him. We can climb over the counter. It's that easy. "Don't worry, I'm not going to disappear!"

I nod and walk around the counter. The Baby Spider on the counter's edge is sleeping. Really, really still. I put on my mask and see the Security Node. I go through the pile of debris and follow a red wire-looking thing down to the alley. More Baby Spiders. I follow another two to a door, and then another one to a doorless room, that also lacks an entire wall. It was probably where people would get their bowling shoes and differently weighted balls.

"Found it!" Eclipse shouts as I hop off the cameras. We meet up at the counter, as literally anyone can jump over it as long as their more than four feet tall. "You found all the nodes?"

I shake my head. "A door needs to be unlocked. We should probably get that done before we get the two easy ones. Or we can see how it works. It's up to you, really."

I noticed that there's an intercom button on the cameras. I doubt that Kirby has been recording my voice, but maybe whoever is down in the basement has been recording Cassie. What even is down there? I guess I'll see when Cass catches up. Maybe Roxy is still functional. Cassie has always talked about how much she loved Roxy when the Pizzaplex was open.

Maybe we'll run into Roxy. It'd be nice to see her.

"We can get the two you found over with," Eclipse says. He still has the Faz-Wrench in his hand. "Just show me where they are and I can get past the mini-DJs without disturbing them."

I show him the one in the alley, behind the group of Baby Spiders. A large pin, too big to even be considered real. A bowling ball is on the other half of the alley. A Roxy-colored one, with purple and green, and a Roxy head near the finger holes.

When he gets the child node, I see a small glitch in the AR. A tall rabbit creature, with a large smile on his face.

He's here. But he can't get closer.

I take off the mask and lead Eclipse straight to the next node. He also deactivates it, and we need to go through the locked door. I borrow the Faz-Wrench to get through the lock. I can tell it's almost broken; it has probably been used plenty of times before, but it looks like it's going to shatter.

We get the other two nodes in no time. I even experiment with the intercom button on the cameras. They all have Cassie's voice. They've all been updated a bit before Cass came in too.

The thing knows its prey. It knows Cassie too well. Too well to not have just started hunting her, wanting her to release it. It's been watching and waiting. All for the perfect time to lure her in, and probably me as well.

I put on the mask, and right in front of me is the security rabbit. He took no time to appear.

"We need to talk," I say to him.

*****

Word Count: 1429

People who romantically love MXES are weird, but I see where they're coming from. Also I really needed to get this chapter over 1200 words lol