When Herobrine awoke, it was cold and dark again.
Slowly, achingly, he lifted his head. His surroundings were different, but not… unfamiliar. Just a different room.
He was alone.
Steve had been here, he knew he had. That must have been the reason he had been moved - and was allowed to sleep. They had been distracted, perhaps by his arrival, and had-
...taken him away.
Cold fingers of fear gripped at his heart, and he curled around his chest. They would be curious. Want to study him. Subject him to the same cruel experiments that he had already suffered. He shouldn't have come- why was he here? How? Notch, he'd mentioned Notch. Said he was coming. Why did he send him-?
Bracing a hand on the floor, Herobrine began to push himself upright.
His body ached, protesting at the unfamiliar movement, but he pressed on. Exhaustion alone had every limb crying out for rest, and he almost slipped trying to get a foot underneath him. Lurching to his left, he managed to press a hand against the wall, using it as an anchor as he pulled himself to his feet. Amazing, he thought vaguely, what one could do under a certain amount of duress.
Lifting a foot, he took a heavy step towards the other side of the room, towards a doorway. Another step, then another, keeping a hand on the wall to keep him upright. Block by block, he made his way out of the room, finding himself in a long hallway.
He had to find his brother before they hurt him beyond repair.
Like they did to me.
Steve took a step down the passage, only to let out a strangled yelp when a shock coursed through his body.
Grimacing, he reached up to rub at the piece of metal wrapped around his neck. He had woken up with it, and noticed it not long after he started the maze. His understanding so far was that it would give him a mild shock when he took the wrong path.
"You know," He called out. "This is kind of pointless for a conditioning exercise. I can understand if you were trying to force me into or out of a behavior, but I don't know the correct path. How can I 'obey' if I don't know how?" As usual, there was no response. He had never gotten a response, the closest thing to a communication being the order to pass through the maze. He kept talking, though. It made him feel like he had a bit more control over his situation.
Helped keep the cold flickers of fear that twisted his stomach at bay.
He ventured down a different path, and wasn't shocked, so he continued. The maze was fairly simple and linear, made out of interconnecting rectangles. It was the first time he had ever seen a maze, much less been in one, but it felt normal.
Coming to another fork, he ambled to the right, only for a sceam to rip itself from his throat as an awful, paralyzing pain swept through him.
There were tears in his eyes by the time he was able to move. He found himself on his hands and knees, a stinging sensation over his entire body and a shudder in each breath. Blinking at the tears, he drew in a shaky gasp, only to startle once more when text appeared in the corner of his vision.
[Perhaps I have not made the point of this exercise clear.]
[But, if you find it to be too easy then I am certain I can assist.]
"N-no." He gasped out, tongue numb in his mouth as he struggled to form words. "No, I- don't."
It took several minutes, but eventually the stinging and the burning faded, the tremors wracking his body dying down to a simple shudder. Staggering upright again, he stumbled back, taking the left path instead. Raising a hand, he pressed a hand to the iron collar. It was hot.
He came to another split. Halted. Pressed a hand to his neck as he debated his next choice.
His body exploding with pain once more was the last thing he felt before the world went black.
10/1/19
The second entity (henceforth referred to as Subject HB-V) was pitted against a simple maze, enduring a shock whenever it took the wrong path. Subject HB-V attempted to communicate with those controlling the test several times, asking questions verbally and making snide comments. After one of such comments, the voltage on its' shock collar was tripled. The second shock after the increase caused the subject to go unresponsive, falling into an unconscious state. An attempt to communicate has been scheduled for when the subject gains consciousness.
Subject HB has escaped its' chamber. While there were no safeguards in place to keep it from doing so, the subject has shown remarkable amounts of strength in exiting the room despite the damage it has endured. Subject HB will continue to be monitored without obstruction until further notice.
