hey there y'all, i'm actually back! it's been over two years, and i am truly sorry for the absence. believe me, i never forgot about this fic, not once, just… other stuff happened, and i ran out of inspiration and, well, you know how life can be. but i saw the lego batman movie on monday (and then again on tuesday), and i guess that was the kick in the ass i needed! you folks are all so wonderful, and you don't even know how glad i am to be back. sorry to return with such a short chapter but i just wanna get the ball rolling. i've been having some new ideas to add in, so you can look forward to that. (also, uh, totally and completely unrelated, i've been listening to the adventure zone and… how about that suffering game arc? haha yeah good stuff.)
side note: i've edited a couple previous chapters so that they're more consistent with the plot, including clarifying which characters are headed to kinzel's ship. the other edit is in chap 19 where kinzel mentions something about cloudcuckooland as a reference to a vague plot idea i had that ended up not happening at all and so the scene was totally out of place. it now actually refers to the events of the batman movie, which fits in surprisingly well.
As they drew closer to the huge black disc, Good Cop tightened his grip on the rocket launcher and sighted down its length. "Looks like there's a docking bay straight ahead," he said.
Benny spotted it. "Think you can get us in?"
"Absolutely," Good Cop replied, sliding a new rocket into the launcher and standing up in the back seat. "Just keep going." The doors to the bay in question were rapidly getting nearer. He steadied the launcher, aimed, and fired.
The rocket blew the doors wide open, and the car zipped through the smoking gap, screeching to a stop in the middle of the bay. As everyone climbed out, Emmet asked, "Shouldn't there be, like, stuff in here?"
He was right. The bay was completely empty – all the spots designated for vehicles were vacant, and there was no sign of any kind of personnel. In fact, it looked like it had never been used at all.
"This is creepy," Business muttered. "Let's keep going."
They stuck tight together as they hurried towards the exit, unnerved by the eerie silence. Something was seriously wrong.
"It kinda feels like we were meant to come in through here," Benny muttered.
Wyldstyle shuddered. "Don't say stuff like that. This is weird enough as it is."
Kinzel's voice greeted them as they ran out of the docking bay. "So glad you could make it!" he said cheerfully, the words echoing around them from seemingly nowhere. "I take it you put all the pieces together. Or, almost all of them. Can you guess where my Matter Manipulator is?"
"The center of the ship?" Benny hazarded, scanning the hall as they made their way down it. There was a camera beside the door, and another at the far end of the corridor.
"Very good, Deputy Chu! However, finding it will be another question entirely. Why, even I get lost in here sometimes!"
They turned a corner and came to a T-shaped intersection. On the wall in front of them was a bright yellow sign with MATTER MANIPULATOR on it in block letters and a large arrow below it, pointing right.
"Oh, that's right, I put up signs," Kinzel said in a sweetly false 'silly me' tone. "But before you go any further, I have a new game for you. It's called True… or False?"
"You're kidding me," Wyldstyle said.
"He's just gonna lead us on a merry chase around the ship," Good Cop growled. "We don't have time for this."
Benny drummed his fingers on his chin, thinking. "We definitely should not split up, especially since I think that's exactly what he wants us to do."
"What direction were we facing when we came in?" Emmet asked suddenly.
They all looked at each other for a moment, then Wyldstyle scrambled to pull out her phone, opening the compass app. After a few seconds, she said, "North."
"Then we keep going north," Emmet said with a bright smile.
"Good idea, babe," Wyldstyle said, giving him a light, affectionate punch on the shoulder. She consulted her phone again, and began to say, "We go-" before she was interrupted by Kinzel.
"You lot are no fun at all," he sighed. "Let's try something different, then."
And then the floor opened up beneath them.