Azalea was pretty sure Monobear knew they were going to invade his office, so she expected him to appear anytime, laugh in their face, and throw them out, maybe adding a punishment because why not. When the building with the shape of the upper half of his head was on sight, she thought in any moment the large metal door would open and he'd step outside.
Nothing happened, not even when they all got right in front of the door. Azalea put a hand on the surface of the entrance. "Looks pretty solid to me. No handles or doorknobs"
"And no windows either" Matthew said. Thioro looked at the glass red eye that was high on the dome that formed the building.
"Let's look for another way in. I know there are no windows, but there could be something we missed"
Even though it was unlikely they'd find anything, they had no reason to refuse. The three circled around the building, examining every inch of the surface of the outer walls, looking around just in case their captor decided to surprise them. The smooth surface shone under the sun, illuminating all the screws and the places where the steel was assembled together. Azalea tried to stick her fingers in the junctures. All the steel plates were solidly welded together, none of the plates they examined hid an entrance or even a hole from where they could look inside. Thioro knocked on the wall, a hollow sound reverberating inside.
"Stop that! He's going to come here!" Azalea chided him while he had his ear pressed against the steel. Matthew, with his hands behind his back, didn't seem too worried. "Am I the only one who's worried Monobear will appear anytime?!"
"We're in his virtual world and he's following all our movements, I'd be surprised if he didn't know already we're here" he said.
"Then why hasn't he tried to stop us?"
"Dunno. He may have gotten cocky" Thioro moved a few feet away and knocked on the wall again. "He may think we'll never get inside or find anything"
"We won't if we don't get inside" Matthew hadn't tried to help Thioro at all. "Found anything?"
"No. This dome is like a fortress, it's flawless. The only way in is the big door, so..." he led the way "Nothing to do but try to get in here through there"
"He's not going to open the door for us. Do you think there's a key or a button?"
"If there's any then it must be inside" Azalea said. Thioro nodded.
"I agree it must be inside, but not because of that we will give up, will we? There must be something we can use, like..." the detective cheered up when he saw a small device on the side of the door. When they approached, Azalea recognized what it was: the intercom. She remembered having seen it back when nobody had died yet, Monobear had talked through it and told them to scram. Contacting him through the intercom would likely get that same result "We think Monobear opens from the inside, right?"
"Do you think it's done through the intercom?"
"No, that's not it, it's more like maybe there' something we're not seeing yet. Let's open up this device and see what we can find out" he turned his head to Matthew "Didn't think I'd be saying this, but I'm glad you're here. Bring any tools you have"
"Aye aye captain" Matthew saluted lazily and ran in direction to the cottages, leaving Azalea and Thioro to examine the intercom. Thioro examined every millimeter of the intercom, looking for clues or anything that could be useful for them, but he found nothing. Only when Matthew arrived again it seemed like they could do some progress.
Matthew put his toolbox on the grass, rubbing his hands in anticipation. "You want me to take this apart?"
"Very carefully. I don't think Monobear would appreciate us breaking his stuff"
"Hey, guys, look at this" Azalea had been touching the intercom, until her finger brushed against something in a seemingly empty part of the device. She felt a small hole there, even though her eyes showed there was nothing "There's something here"
"Really?"
"It's like a small opening" Azalea rubbed with her fingernail, flakes of gray plastic peeling from where she had been touching, until she revealed a round hole, just a millimeter wide. "It was covered up. Do you think it could be useful?"
"It's too small to put a finger or most tools inside" Matthew noted "Something like a needle could fit, but where are we going to find one?"
Thioro scratched other parts of the device, finding nothing. "That seems to be the only hole. Guess dismantling this really is the only thing to do. There could be something directly underneath the hole"
"Step aside, I'll deal with this" Matthew opened his toolbox, looking forward to breaking the device. With expertise and measured movements, Matthew popped out the plastic cover, moving it out of the intercom with care, not letting it fall down to the grass. The inner workings of the intercom were shown. The speaker, the wires inside, and other parts were in plain sight, the three huddled together to examine everything. "You were telling me to check the part where the hole was at, right?"
"That's right. Something there?" Azalea asked.
"There is. Look" Matthew pointed at a small round membrane "I don't know if you have opened a keyboard before, so I'll tell you there are many tiny things like these under every key. When you press a key, the plastic of the key presses on this and sends a signal to your computer"
"There was no button over this thing" Azalea said.
"No, but this exists. I think if we press it, something will happen" Matthew's lens extended, he looked at the edges of the membrane and how it was connected to everything else. "There's a couple cables coming out of it, and they go into the wall. I dunno if they connect to the door, but there's a chance they do"
"What else could they do?" Thioro asked.
"I dunno. It could also trigger an alarm, I guess, but we have no way to know" the engineer hovered a tiny screwdriver over the membrane, twirling it slightly. "All we can do is press it and hope for the best. What do you think?"
Thioro didn't seem eager to maybe put themselves at risk by pressing suspicious buttons, while Matthew was already ready to press it. Being the tiebreaker, Azalea took her decision quickly. "Press it"
"Are you sure?" the detective asked.
"It's the only hint of a way to get inside. We have to take the risk"
"Roger that" Matthew said without waiting for Thioro to give a rebuttal or an alternate idea. Quickly, he jabbed the membrane with the screwdriver. The membrane gave in easily. Nothing happened in the intercom. A sudden noise behind them made Azalea jump, she turned around expecting to see a horrible trap springing out, or Monobear ready to deliver a punishment, but it actually was the big door of the office opening. Cogs and noisy machinery made a cacophony that got rid of any pretense of being stealthy, until the door folded and disappeared into the void inside. Azalea let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in.
"That went well"
"That could have gone much worse. Let's be careful" Thioro said, frowning, and peered inside the office. "I can't see much...I'll go in first. The two of you follow after me only after I give you a sign I'm okay" since there was no reason to refuse, they agreed with Thioro's plan. Thioro walked inside, fading away from sight. Azalea held her hands, waiting and hoping for Thioro's indication. Behind her, Matthew packed his toolset and got it ready, just in case they'd need it again.
A minute passed before they heard Thioro from inside. "It's a hallway leading here! You should be okay, get in here" Doesn't sound like there's anything bad inside. Antsy and ready to get running at the first sign of danger, Azalea entered slowly, waiting for her eyes to get used to the darkness. Their steps gave the hallway an ominous sensation, it was like there would be no way back if they kept going. That doesn't matter. We have gotten far, we can't just back off now.
"This is a long hallway" Azalea commented, trying to defuse the tension. Matthew made a noncommittal noise. He was staring forward, without paying much attention to her. Azalea was taking the situation very seriously, yet she felt Matthew and Thioro were much more focused than her. It was good to have friends who were willing to do everything in their power to help, but it also was starting to make her a bit uneasy.
When they got to the end of the hallway, they entered the office. Although Azalea didn't remember ever being there before, it felt familiar. If I talked to Monobear and got my question answered then he must have done that here... That would explain why it felt familiar. Thioro was waiting for them beside the large vault-like gate at the back of the office, behind the chair Monobear would sit at. Other than them, there was nobody else around, much to Azalea's relief. "I haven't gotten enough time to check this place for long. All I have seen so far is that" he pointed at the side of the gate, where there was another device. Not an intercom, it had a green screen and a small microphone in front of it.
"What's this?" Matthew asked.
"That's what you'll have to find out"
Azalea put a hand over the desk. "Meanwhile Thioro and I will check everything else. You dismantle that device, Matthew"
"Sure, no problem" Matthew opened his toolbox, ready to start working. Just like Azalea suggested, Thioro and she examined the desk, the chair, and the walls, looking for anything that could be useful. Thioro held the videocamera and turned on, recording all of their movements and the objects in the office. The only source of illumination was a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, Thioro had taken a good decision by modifying the videocamera to be able to record in such dim circumstances.
It took around ten minutes for Azalea and Thioro to get done with their investigation. It was fruitless. The desk had no secret compartments, the drawers were empty, and there weren't any objects. Whatever Monobear may have used to answer the Hostages' questions was now gone. No notes, no photographs, nothing. I should have known he wouldn't be so careless. Although there still was a chance all that was behind the gate Matthew was trying to open.
"Guess there's nothing here..." Thioro sounded disappointed, looking around. He did expect to find something, even if it was useless. "How's it going, Matthew?"
"I'm almost done! I think I can open the gate!" Matthew took out a strange tool, like a rod connected to a battery. In front of him the device was dismantled, the inner wirings exposed. "I'm going to use this custom tool of mine. It'll send an electric signal through the circuits"
"What was that thing, anyway?"
"A voice identification machine. I think it was made to activate with Monobear's voice, or maybe with the admins' voice. I dunno. We shouldn't give it a try, in case something bad happened if an unauthorized person tried" he slowly held the rod in front of the circuits "Step back" Inch by inch, millimeter by millimeter, he moved the rod forward until he touched one of the hair-thin circuits. Sparks flew from contact, Matthew removed the rod immediately and jumped back. The voice ID machine lighted up.
The three Hostages waited to see what happened. There could be a trap, Monobear could arrive, maybe tampering with this was against the rules. A sudden screech startled them, Azalea let out a yelp of surprise and almost bolted to hide underneath the desk. The gate they were trying to open slowly started raising up, embedding onto the ceiling, revealing an inky darkness behind, without even a single light illuminating that space. The three of them watched, soaking in the foreboding atmosphere.
"...well we have to keep going" Thioro said while Matthew packed his toolbox. Once the three were ready, they stepped into the darkness.
It was kind of weird to be in a pitch black room when somehow the few objects in it were perfectly visible. It was as if there was no darkness covering those objects at all, despite the absence of light. Azalea saw a vat that had a large drop symbol on front, and right beside it there was a safe, wide open. There was also a cardboard box on the desk. "Okay, what are we checking first?" Matthew asked them. Azalea pointed at the vat.
"That's unusual. Obviously it should be our first choice"
Thioro chuckled. "You would fall into so many traps, Azalea. You know what, let's do it"
With decisive steps, Azalea went to the vat and lifted the heavy cover, putting it against the wall, and peered into the vat. There was a lot of transparent liquid inside. Thioro carefully pushed them aside when they tried to take a better look. "Careful, it could be acidic"
"There are no warning labels anywhere" Matthew said, examining the outside of the vat. Thioro frowned, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.
"...nothing's burning, I suppose it's okay to take a better look"
"Want me to sample a bit?"
"No, you idiot!"
"There isn't even a name for whatever's in here. No color, no smell...it can't be just water, right?" Azalea had crouched to take a look by herself, finding nothing either "No way Monobear would lock a container of water in here"
"We should take a sample of this back to Kamiya" Matthew suggested. Thioro used this videocamera to have the vat and its contents on video. Despite the darkness, he was able to use the camera properly, a sharp image registering into the camera despite being tinted green.
"We didn't bring anything to take a sample. If I had known this would be here..." what was done was done, and going out to get something could be dangerous. He decided continuing their investigation was a better idea than risking being detained or caught while bringing something to keep a sample in. "There's a safe there" the detective suggested.
"Then whatever's inside must be important" Azalea took the initiative and opened the safe further. "Why do you think it's open? It doesn't seem like it was forced open"
"Who knows. We'll think about that later, for now tell us what's in there"
Azalea took out the contents of the safe. "It's a few documents, I think. Let's see..." once she found what seemed to be the first page, she read aloud: "The...The Lazarus Formula?"
"What's that?"
"I'm reading, give me a sec" Azalea quickly scanned the page, looking for the most important passages. "Looks like this is some kind of drug. Most of what it says here is so complicated I don't understand not even half of it"
"Search for anything about its appearance or its uses" Thioro suggested. It made sense to look for the most important qualities of the formula, she found the right page.
"Okay, this one is about its composition. There's diagrams, there's long and unpronounceable words, but it does say it's a colorless, flavorless, odorless compound"
"No doubt this container is filled with that" Thioro concluded, positioning the videocamera to record everything Azalea was reading.
"I'll try to say what I understand..." Azalea sat on the desk, paraphrasing what she found: "The Lazarus Formula is a chemical compound made to kill"
"This is poison?!" Matthew stepped away from the vat.
"The formula will reduce cerebral activity in a gradual manner to...to reduce the amount of stress on the brain before the moment of death?"
"As if that's going to be of any use to someone who's going to die" Thioro commented. You're not wrong. Lousy consolation for someone who's about to die.
Azalea continued summarizing the page she was reading. "There will be no outward signs of this compound's effect on the human body. The only warning about the compound is its unfavorable reaction when in contact with human skin. It will cause a rash and reddening where the compound touched the skin. Other than that there are no contraindications..."
"If it was anyone other than Monobear I'd say that's a humane method to do executions" Thioro commented. Yeah, those executions were completely inhumane. Azalea checked another page.
"Oh, interesting. Hear this, guys:" she said "The Lazarus Formula is effective when injected into the bloodstream, causing death in five minutes"
"That fast?!" Matthew gasped.
"Until the moment of death the person injected with the compound will weaken quickly and die peacefully, losing unconsciousness seconds before their heart stops. If the poison is administered orally, death will be unavoidable, but its effects over the body are different. Due to the contact with gastric acids, it will cause severe sickness, including vomiting, headaches, and excessive sweating. The body will take longer to absorb the compound, and death will happen in...one hour!"
"Sounds like we'd notice if someone died because of the poison, then" Matthew said. "Why would Monobear have all this poison and never use it?"
"He may not have used it so far but that doesn't mean he won't use it in the future. This could be his way to execute us all if we accuse the wrong person in a trial."
"That'd be too humane for him. No, there must be another use for this compound" Thioro said.
"We can't take this anywhere or else the bear would know we were here. Did you record everything?"
"I did. Now there's the box here..." Thioro took the cardboard box, the bottom falling down. "Oh, wait, there are two boxes. This one is empty"
"Any labels that could tell us what was in there?" Matthew asked.
"Nothing. There's no dust or shapes. Can't say for sure what could have been here. What does the other box have?"
Azalea peered into the other box. There were a few of the same object – some sort of object that resembled an epipen. A glass container in each of them showed there was nothing inside. "I'm not sure what these are"
"Look at the tip, it's sharp. I think these were to be used to inject something" Thioro pointed out. Oh, yeah! Azalea noticed he was right, it was rather sharp. Wait a second...
"What's up with the scary face, Azalea?"
Apparently the thoughts that crossed her mind made her face scrunch. She was sure she was right – hard to think otherwise since these objects existed. Still, should she say something right now? What did it mean? What would be the implications if she was correct?
It just was too dubious to bring up right now. "It's...it's nothing"
"Sure didn't seem like it was nothing" Matthew said slyly, and stepped away from the desk. "I don't think we're going to find anything else here. Let's get out before the bear comes back and finds us deep in his den"
"Without proof, it could be hard for the others to believe us. Let's take one of these objects with us" Thioro suggested, taking one out of the cardboard box. Azalea puts her hands on her hips.
"We can't take the documents with us, but we can take one of those things? Why?"
"The documents are one-of-a-kind; these things may be disposable. If we're lucky the bear will chalk one missing up to just losing one of them" despite the reassurances, Thioro didn't seem sure at all. It was unlikely the bear didn't know they were here, getting nosy and invading his office, he most likely already knew what they were taking. Matthew was right, though. They should leave. "What time is it?"
Matthew rolled up a bit of one of his suit's sleeves, checking his wristwatch. "2:56 PM. About time we go meet everyone else at the diner"
"Then let's get going" Thioro put a hand on Azalea's shoulder and gently lead her out of the black room. Matthew left a few seconds after them, closing the gates behind him. Monobear still was nowhere to be seen, not even when they left the building they felt like they were being observed. Were they really getting away with this?
"Guess we won't have time to go to my cottage" Azalea mumbled. Thioro, behind her, shrugged.
"I don't think anyone will care if you arrive a little late. There should be time for you to go get whatever you wanted to get"
He was right, now that she thought about it. Where was the harm in arriving a little later than intended? On the other hand...it's likely what she asked was kind of personal. Even if she got her answer and wrote it somewhere, did she want to reveal it to everyone? It's true it depended on how important it was, but...
...maybe it was for the better to not take the decision right now. She could do it after the meeting.
Azalea shook her head. "It's fine, I'll go there after the meeting. Let's go see what the others got"
"Fine with me" Thioro went ahead, without any hesitation, towards the entrance of the diner where a few of the Hostages were already gathered. Behind Azalea, Matthew followed, hands in his pockets.
For some reason there was a knot in Azalea's throat. She felt rather nervous, like she felt something horrible was going to happen. There's no reason to think something will go wrong. I have to calm down.
Inside the diner, the clock showed the time.
3:00 PM