Tales Across the MultiBurst

Last Time On "Star Battle"...

In which we see Joshua Burns step into his latest role on the Hollywood block as Joshua Wayne, a superhero in disguise who's facing off against the dastardly Marx, played by the teen star Briar Agreste. Unfortunately for Joshua, Briar's got a lot of bark and double the bite to back it up, plus a stubborn streak that stretches over the whole of the United States. To get this movie Hollywood Blockbuster ready, our hero's gonna have to put on his game face!
(Takes place just after Burst ends, Joshua is twenty-one. Briar is my OC and sixteen.)

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The darkness consumes everything, blurring everything together into one big mass of nothing. I glare into it, trying to find something in it that can give me a clue of where I am.

"Looking for something, Wayne?"

A bright light flashes on out of nowhere, blinding me and sending flickering stars across my vision. I hiss in pain and clench my eyes shut, waiting for the burn to pass before hesitantly opening them again. The walls are made of stainless steel, reflecting the bright light like a spotless mirror. I find I'm strapped to the stainless steel floor, thick leather straps screwed securely into the floors. I try to fight against them, but I can't even move an inch.

"Heh heh heh..." I turn my gaze up to the cold, masked stare looking down on me, able to see pearly white teeth set in a Cheshire Cat grin. The villainous Marx stands far above me, leaning against the guardrail around the grated platform he stands on. "Yes, I certainly don't think you'll free yourself so easily. You're only a tiny, tiny human, are you not?"

"What are you planning?" I hiss, jerking against my restraints uselessly.

"To kill you, of course."

I gasp sharply, my eyes widening. "N- No! No, you can't!"

He lets out an ominous cackle, one that echoes off the walls surrounding me. "And why can't I?"

"At- at least tell me... What are you planning to do once you've won?"

He stares at me in silence for several minutes. Then he shakes his head and laughs even more. "Now, what's the fun in telling you that? You'll see it yourself in the afterlife." Then he turns away, pressing a button on the wall and leaving through the door he came in from.

"No! No! NO! COME BACK!" I yell, kicking and bucking against the ever-tight straps as water begins to pour from drains I didn't see before. The water quickly begins to consume me, colder and more terrifying than the darkness ever thought of being. I raise my head as high as I can, which thanks to the strap over my neck isn't high at all.

The room fills up quickly, and before I know it I'm gasping for my final breath. The water consumes me completely, and I begin thrashing and screaming against the freezing death...

Then the water drains from the room, and a stagehand comes to free me from the straps. I push myself up, pushing my hair out of my face and sighing. Briar reappears on the balcony above, calling out to Terry and the crew, "That was a great set, everyone!"

"Yeah, it definitely was," Terry calls back. "I think it's time to move on to our next scene."

"Wait, wait, wait!" I call, and the crew falls silent as Terry sighs.

"What is it, Joshua?"

"This is all wrong! We can't kill off our main character!"

"We can, and we are. If Joshua Wayne doesn't die, Ariala doesn't become emotional enough to awaken her superpowers, remember?" Briar calls calmly from where he stands up on the balcony, and despite his mask I know he's glaring at me.