Reprogrammed

No Way

Your wrists burned against the ropes that bound them. The cold concrete floor was causing your knees to ache. How long would it last? You gasped for air as your head was finally pulled from the water.

 Why was this so familiar? 

Trick question. You knew why. It was because it had happened before. 

"You want to go back under?" The deep voice asked. 

Your face crumpled as you tried to get in as much air as possible. You didn't want to. But you had no choice. You hadn't had a choice for days.

You knew the three men who were watching you. Darkiplier, Antisepticeye, and Natemare. All three acted as torturers, but right now, only Dark was doing the actual harm. The other two just watched, which, in your mind, made them just as bad.

"This is for before, isn't it?" you ask.

No one answered. Anti looked at Natemare, but they stayed quiet. It wasn't their lack of answer that confused you, it was the way they looked at each other.

The four of you had a history. Anti, Dark, and Natemare were computer viruses who had taken on the form of the alter egos of Youtubers Jacksepticeye, Markiplier, and NateWantsToBattle respectively. In an effort to take over their channels and merge into the real world, Anti and Dark had come alive with support from the fandoms, and tried to take out and replace Jack and Mark.

Unfortunately, you had been caught in the middle. When Anti decided to come out for the first time, you had just happened to be there, allowing him and Dark to take you along when they came for Mark and Jack. 

Not long after, the viruses had returned, along with Natemare, and kidnapped you, not once, but twice more, along with your other YouTuber friends. And they had come in the form of multiple viruses at once, each resembling your friends, and even you. 

After a moment, Dark pushed your head under the water once again, and this time, you counted. When you hit thirty, you felt him pull you by the hair and lift your face out of it. After a few breaths, you choked out what little water remained in your lungs.

Something was different about it this time. They weren't asking for anything from you, not like before.

When you look forward, you see that Dark has taken Anti's place in front of you, meaning that Anti was the one who had you by the hair. You hadn't even felt them switch. Not only were they torturing you, they were playing with your mind. They had been doing that for days. 

It was almost too much for you to take, and at that, you burst into tears. 

"Why are you doing this to me?" you sobbed.

"Unfortunately, my dear, it's beyond your control," Anti said.

You pushed against his hold, trying to look at his face. "What are you talking about?"

Every other time, they had wanted something from you. But now it just seemed like they were messing with you for the fun of it.

"No more questions," Anti said.

He shoved your head back under the water.

---

"Alright, you ready to go?" Markiplier asked his friend and fellow YouTuber, Jacksepticeye.

"I am ready," Jacksepticeye, also known as Sean, announced through the headset. 

With Mark in L.A., and Sean in Brighton, their only method of speaking to each other was through Discord or similar apps. They were just preparing to stream a game, only to realize that there was bit of a setback.

"We're just waiting for (y/n)," Mark said. 

"Yep," Jack said. "I haven't heard from her lately, how is she?"

"Good, I think," Mark said. "She's said that she's glad we've all finally found time to stream together. She should be here soon."

After about ten minutes of chatting and waiting around for you, Mark and Sean were starting to feel unsettled.

"She's not usually late like this," Sean said. "You want to call her?"

"I'm already dialing," Mark stated. He held the phone up to his mic so that Jack could hear your end of the call. At the sound of your voicemail, the two shared a concerned expression, without even realizing it.

"Why isn't she picking up?" Sean asked. 

"I don't know," Mark said.

"Give it a couple of minutes, then try again," Sean suggested. He leaned back in his chair and tucked his hands behind his head.

After a little bit, Mark called your cell phone again, but still ended up getting your voicemail.

"She usually answers," Mark said suspiciously.

"What time is it where she is?" Sean asked. "Maybe she's still in bed?"

"Then why would we be streaming for this time? She's the one who suggested it," Mark determined.  "She's always on time for this sort of thing."

Sean squirmed. He wasn't feeling too good about this. That combined with the things that had happened before--

He shook his head and pulled out his own cell phone. "Keep trying her. I'll call Matt and Nate."

"No, I'll do that. I'm local to them, so it won't cost as much," Mark said. "You try (y/n)."

"Okay."

A little while later, they each hung up their phones again.

"Nothing," Sean said. His stomach twisted. "Voicemail again."

"Matt says he hasn't seen her," Mark reported. "Nate's filming with him today, but he hasn't heard from her since a few weeks ago."

"Maybe we should hold off for a while," Sean said. "We can stream when she gets back to us."

"Good idea," Mark said. Although his gut told him otherwise.

After they ended their calls, Mark sat back in his chair started thinking back over the last few years. He sighed. The attacks, the kidnappings. Could Dark be back?

He shook his head. Dark was being held. There was no way. The anti-virus was holding him captive, along with the others. He couldn't possibly have gotten out. Besides, he was Dark's target. If he had been freed, he would have come for Mark, not you.

There was no way.

---

Sean studied the computer screen long after it had faded to black. You not showing up had made him nervous, even more so than Mark. The last couple of days had been weird for him. His videos had been getting randomly deleted, then reappearing after a day or two. Just long enough for people to notice.

Not to mention his camera shutting off during recording. He never ever lost the recordings, but he'd have to stop and start up the camera again, which was not only annoying, but it had also given him a sense of paranoia. How could he make good videos when he was so nervous about things going wrong?

Sean stood from his desk and moved into the next room, trying to forget about his worries. He was being paranoid, he knew that. The question was, did he have any reason to be?