The city in the distance from the shipping yard was a little ways away, probably 10-15 miles. They had two options: take the long way by walking or they could hide on a ship and head their way. The ladder was more appealing to all since they still felt a little nauseous, and not having to walk would be nice.
Walking to the ships, they tried to find a place to hide. But they were also trying to avoid others seeing them. After the gunshot, it was only a matter of time before someone checked to see what it was and to make everyone in a near 100-meter radius suspicious. Suspicious enough to call the police. It only took about 3 minutes for the police to be there. That got them running. The group searched to find a ship empty enough to stow away in.
One of the teens spoke up, "I'll stay and look out for anyone coming"
"Wait, no, I'll stay," said another guy, stopping to take his place. His name was Dan, more known as DanTDM. Everyone nodded, and they all went on their way, trying to find the right ship.
"Wait, why are we running? Can't the police help us?" Joe asked.
Sean, or Jacksepticeye, replied, "I don't know if a bunch of people carrying guns would be appealing to help or give directions." Joe nodded shakily and agreed.
Finally, they found a ship that was going to the city and had enough space to hide them all. It was blue around the top and black on the underside of the vessel. They looked through the containers, and they found one that had enough space and enough cover to hide even if they searched there. It was a little bigger than the rest.
"Where is this going?" One of the teens asked.
One guy replied, his accent Irish, "I don't know, but it is our best option of getting the fuck out of here."
Felix quickly asked, "And you are?"
"The name is Brian," he said quickly. Felix's hud flashed the name of his alias: Terroriser.
Mark, or Markiplier, said, "Damn, we need to make a list of names or some shit." Everyone nodded in agreement. Mark continued, "I know we all probably said our names back there, but with this big a group, we need a way to know each other."
Suddenly, Dan is seen running to the group with flashlight beams sporadically bouncing behind him. They were coming. He waved for them to hurry as he climbed up the ship bridge. Brian, Ian, and Mark lifted the door to the shipping container as others got in. Dan turned to look and see if they were coming, and the lights were bright, most likely meaning they were about to turn the corner. So, he jumped into the container and extended a hand to grab one of the three. Brian grabbed first, jumping down without much help from Dan. Mark jumped down mere seconds after, then Ian grabbed the handle and looked down at rest.
"Can I get a hand? It's just so I can close this thing," he asked. Quickly, Mark made a cup with his hands for him to stand on. Ian stepped on the cupped hands and yanked on the handle as the door closed. It was pitch black for a second. Then someone pulled out what seemed to be a flashlight and shone it around the container. Vanoss once again.
"Alright, make yourselves comfortable. It's going to be a very long trip," another voice said.
Outside the container, police were searching the whole yard for any signs of who was here. Or if anyone even was here. Some of the only evidence was a single bullet casing and some gun-powder residue from a small handgun. According to forensics, they would need to run more tests to understand who did this. Another thing they found was a crystal that, when scanned, didn't appear on their periodic table. It was small, seeming like it was ejected off of whatever it was attached to first. This was going to be an exciting night for the police.
Meanwhile, on a ship heading into the city, the group was still inside the container unknown by anyone outside, and with the only light being a flashlight, it was near pitch black. Everyone waited for some time before bursting again into conversation due to some workers on the ship. Sean and Mark tried to talk about ways of getting home while Evan and Ian tried introducing each other to their groups. It was chaotic. Felix, on the other hand, was looking around this container for signs of where they were going. Checking the crates, each had stamps of an address that seemed to be on the outskirts of the city. Reading the text, it said the following:
Warning: This package contains fragile equipment for Eden Technology and Research Facility. Do not touch or drop.
Felix didn't understand the message's words due to the crate being very light, but he listened to the warnings and left the box be. He felt a little paranoid, but he rubbed it off, saying that he was a bit scared about the fall from earlier. But he still remembers the name: Eden. That is where this thing was heading. While having this moment of thought, he didn't see one of the people losing balance due to the rocking ship and falling backward, knocking him over in the process. He hit a small group of crates, and then one fell off and broke open. A small envelope fell out and hit the ground. Everyone stopped talking and looked at the fallen envelope. Cautiously, Felix decided to grab the envelope and found a note taped to the thing and read it aloud:
Dear Colinne,
I have a feeling that this may be a bad time to talk to you, but I know you will love this. Coming with this tablet is some information that may surprise you. It some parts that your team will need to analyze, like cave walls and particular DNA, and some research on the ongoing search. We have yet to gain much more ground in this, but this research may be compelling, in our opinion, in this fight. I apologize for Alan's death. I wish I could've been there to help. I send my condolences, and I'll support you through this, sister. I hope to see you soon after this exhibition. Miss you.
Your's Truly,
Lance
Finishing the note, just made the situation more confusing for not only Felix. What was this 'research' they were talking about? Why are they sending it in this package and this shipping container? Who are these people? Felix was half tempted to grab the box and open it, while his other half was saying to leave it be. Evan spoke up.
"Shouldn't we see what this is? Then we will have some bit of information about where the hell we are going," he asked. Everyone was a little skeptical but mostly agreed with him. Felix opted out of doing it, so Matthew hesitantly agreed to do it. He sighed and picked up the envelope and opened the top. He cautiously took out the tablet and looked at it. It was a dull gray plastic outline.
"Do I need some sort of password?" he asked, puzzled. Everyone mostly shrugged it off and went on doing their own thing. Mat studied the screen, and he saw something. A faint flash on the screen that, though small, was noticeable. He moved it closed to see what it is, but as he did, the light grew into a mesh of characters. Some looked Egyptian while others a mix of Japanese and Chinese. Then the screen blacked out with two words displayed: hold still.
"'Hold still'?" Mat read aloud puzzled. Out of the blue, the screen flashed with white light, and the camera seemed to pop out from where it was. In a robotic voice, it said:
"Welcome, the new owner."
Mat jumped and dropped the tablet with a small jump. Everyone stood up and looked at the fallen tablet. It just seemed to stop after the fall. The screen returned to a black void, and the light soon faded to only the flashlight illuminating the room. The dim light caused some to ask about the tablet. Those were the few who weren't paying attention.
"Sorry, guys, I think it might've broken when I dropped it," Mat said in response. He was about to say something else when another voice piped in.
"It's fine. I'm not broken, just a little beat up," a voice replied. It was the voice of a man. Its tone was smooth, it was a middle pitch, and it seemed to sound robotic, mimicking what seemed like Pathfinder from Apex Legends. Just like the thing they encountered not too long ago. Mat jumped as the voice was behind him. He turned around only to see nothing. Then looked down to see the top of the tablet glowing a small bit. It was a white color, yet it was not as bright as the flashlight they have.
Hesitantly, he asked, "Who's there?"
"I'm down here," said the voice. The tablet light mimicked the voice's words. It continued, "It's dirty down here. Can you get me off of this ground?"
Mat hesitantly obliged and picked up the tablet, now feeling heavier due to his fear plaguing him. Mat slowly raised it to show everyone in the container. The voice hummed for a second as if he was taking everything in. He then said, "Well, it is a great pleasure to see all of you all."
That caught Mark off guard, and he asked, "What do you mean?"
Puzzled, the voice started to say, "Well, I thought you all had just..." he stopped. He seemed to realize something as Mark asked that question as he then said, "Oh, oh dear me. This may not be good."
Felix then asked, "What do you mean, 'oh no'?"
The voice waited for a second, and then it completely changed the subject,
"Well, I don't have a real name. I'm a prototype artificial intelligence, able to progress in emotion as we speak, so I wasn't given a name just in case I failed. But, since I didn't fail, I am being sent to…"
Felix finished the sentence, "Eden Technology and Research Facility." The voice paused and continued.
"Yes! I see you've read that note, but it's probably not enough to bring back those memories before you got in those meat brains of yours. This will take some explaining, but I'll explain it better when we get to the lab and find Colinne, the head scientist. But I guess that everyone wants to hear what is happening, right?"
Everyone nodded in response, so the voice began, "Alright, so, all of you are from a place where the people call it World Zero, correct? Or at least the people who know. You see, after a huge discovery of multiple worlds, people began to try and find ways to enter these worlds. The worlds were held apart by mysterious energy we called The Vortex, it was an entrance, exit, and a window into all of these worlds. We learned so much, but couldn't find a way to bring it together and gain the ability to travel into and out of the Vortex, alive that is. Another problem was the people in those other worlds. We didn't know what they would think of us. But then, you guys came along."
They felt it looking at all of the people in the container and then continued.
"You all had the key to traveling in the Vortex that they didn't have. To them, you were the last number in an equation that they couldn't solve. So, with government help, they launched a project lead by Dr. Alan Burkin. While they tried to identify your way of travel, the government was trying to catch you, and once that happened, you stopped coming here. It became nearly impossible to figure it out. Then the government stopped funding the project, and Dr. Burkin invested all of his money into this facility we are going to now. In 2 years, the facility has developed AI, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and communication between worlds. Dr. Colinne was intent on finding the solution that Alan couldn't. And she found the way to communicate, but not the way to send someone through the Vortex. She claims that it is too dangerous, and you guys have some sort of ability to survive." He stopped as if saying he was done.
Mildly confused, the group interpreted most of the information but still wanted answers. There was one question that Joe wanted answers to.
"You said there were multiple worlds if I'm not mistaken," he asked.
The voice immediately responded, "Oh, yes, there are hundreds of millions of worlds. My software was built from the ground up, and most of my memory is from you, MatPat," he said beckoning to Mat. He continued, "This is world 3476, this world is known for its smarts, and its laid back laws—this one of the couple thousand that were not derived from World Zero. Most of the others are. Speaking of World Zero, you all just need a better viewpoint on this world. So, I think I can help when we…" his sentence was cut off as the container jerked about as everyone standing up lost balance and fell. They were moving, most likely via crane. Everyone except the voice was a little on edge. He finished with, "... get to the labs."
After twice being shaken around like rag dolls, they were moving again. It was a lot smoother this time. Presumably, they would be there soon, so due to them seeming like vigilantes, they lowered or raised their masked back into their faces. Car horns and voices blared through the thin cargo walls, bouncing the sound even more. They were heading into the city center.
The voice then asked, "By the way, I never got any of your names. Can you share?"
One of the teens replied, "Give alias'. I don't think we want our names being hacked out of this… thing, for now."
The voice replied, "Now that I think about it, that might be a better idea for the time being,"
The room went around telling names until the voice had all of their aliases. He then listed the names and had the group call out names. Felix's HUD displayed their nicknames and their real names.
"Alright, first trio, Stampy," he said.
"That would be me," Joe replied.
"Ballistic-Squid," the voice said.
"Here," David said.
"Squaishy," the voice asked.
"Hello," Bethany replied.
"Next trio, Vanoss."
"Here," Evan replied, his voice sounding more bored than afraid.
"Delirious."
"Hey, that's me," Delirious said, with a slightly nervous giggle afterward.
"Terroriser."
"Mmm-hmm," Brian replied.
"Next, MatPat,"
"Hey," Mat replied.
"Gaijin-Goomba."
"Here," Micheal replied.
"Stephanie."
"Hey," she replied.
"Next, Ssundee."
"That would be me," Ian replied.
"Crainer."
"Here," Crainer replied in Dutch.
"DanTDM,"
"Hello," Dan replied.
"Next, Crystal-Flame."
"Hey," replied one of the kids. He had light brown hair, wore glasses, and was the youngest of the trio. His voice was a mid-pitch, and his face was obscured by a pair of sunglasses.
"Cheshapeek."
Another one of the teens just raised his hand. He had long black hair and was the tallest of the trio. His face was covered by a large hat on his head and a neck gaiter covering his nose and mouth.
"Excavious."
The final teen in the group. He only gave a two-finger salute in response. He had very dark brown hair and was the second tallest in the group. His hair was combed down to a nearly round shape on his head and his eyes were a hazel brown. He wore a mask with two valves and a band wrapping around the back of his head.
"Next trio, Jacksepticeye."
Sean raised his hand, "Top of the morning to ya."
"Markiplier."
Mark nodded.
"PewDiePie."
Felix nodded and said, "Here, that's everyone, right?"
"Yep, so now we just need to wait until…" the voice was cut off as the truck stopped and began reversing. Everyone looked at each other in confusion and fear. Immediately, Evan pulled down his mask, cover, and everyone followed suit. People struggled to act as the movement of the truck became more noticeable due to the fear of them inevitably losing their cool. Sweat dripping, legs shaking, hearts pounding as the door to the container shook.
They were met with nothing for a moment. Then, the doors quickly stretched open. No one on the outside tried to grab them or awkwardly watch them as everyone thought. Slowly, Sean walked to the opening and peeked his head out, and looked side to side. He turned back and did a silent shrug to the group. He edged his way out of the container and into the lower levels of a garage area. He looked around the corner of the container only to pull his head back as the driver of the truck opened his door and hopped out. His adrenaline caused his heartbeat to be loud enough to deafen the conversation the driver was having with what sounded like a guard. His sense of fear kept him in his spot as the footsteps approached. An arm grabbed him and pulled him back into the container. It was Cheshapeek. He silently shushed him and waited for a moment before another figure jumped down and ran for an entrance just a few feet away. Sean hesitantly followed as Cheshapeek gripped his jacket tightly, making him run faster.
The guard rounded the corner and looked into the container to see nothing. The only thing he saw was what the driver had told him about: tools for Dr. Eden. It all seemed reasonable. But he could've sworn he had seen someone, someone who wasn't allowed anywhere near this place. But, due to him having the night shift, he shrugged it off and went back to resume his conversation with the driver.
Sean sighed in relief as he watched the conversation. Turning around, the place they had entered seemed like a hallway leading to stairs and elevators. The group as a whole was there, standing silently in the elevator room. Finally, Felix sighed and pressed a button, calling the elevator.
"Let's get this over with," he said. The elevator arrived with a distinctive ding and the group filed onto the elevator one by one until it was full. While a portion of the group took the elevator, the rest walked up the stairs. Each of the four elevators carried about four people, leaving Mark and Crystal to walk up the stairs, both volunteering.
Sean sighed as the elevator door closed as he looked at who was with him, including Ex, Joe, and Chesh, all of which were silent for all of the ride up. He turned to the group, looking at their attire. All of it was similar to outfits he had seen in Watch_Dogs and each had its own flair to it. His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden stop of the elevator. The group watched as the doors slowly opened and revealed nothing at first before a familiar two faces hopped on: Crystal and Mark. Sean sighed in relief.
"Don't scare me like that," Sean said.
Mark replied, "I know, I know." He paused, "But you should've seen the look on both of your faces."
Crystal-Flame didn't seem amused, more scared than amused. For the first time, Sean got a good look at Crystal-Flame. His attire consisted of a red jacket with holsters for which seemed to be knives and weapons. His face was covered by a bandana, striped with black and white with a small gradient of red. The most prominent part of it was a striped red fedora and the sunglasses that hid his eyes. He looked at Sean and asked, "Yes?"
Sean shook his head, "Sorry, nice outfit,"
"Thanks, you too," he said. He then quickly turned his attention to the elevator floor indicator. Sean wasn't finished, though.
"So, I never caught your name," he said, trying to sound friendly, "Like, your real name,"
Crystal-Flame looked at him for a second and then turned his attention to the elevator dinging, signaling they were stopping on the third floor. The elevator doors opened to see Vanoss and Excavious waiting for them across the room. Both groups exit the elevator and meet in the middle.
"What took you?" Excavious asked.
"Just making sure everyone gets here," Crystal-Flame replied, motioning towards Sean and Mark. Vanoss nods and slowly walks down a hallway leading to a double door. Sean looks at everyone for a second and then follows him down the hall. He only realized as they left that everyone else was not there. This was a little discomforting to them, especially Mark.
"Where is everyone else?" he asked.
Vanoss replied, "I think they went ahead of us,"
"That doesn't sound right, they wouldn't go ahead of us, right?" Mark asked.
Excavious agreed, "Yeah, it doesn't seem right that they would be walking into a place without a full house of cards at the ready. Where would they go anyways?"
Vanoss would've answered if he hadn't felt the slight push of something on the back of his head. His immediate instinct is to raise his hands in surrender, but he knew it wasn't the best thing to do. He could feel his arm twitching, wanting to reach down to grab his weapon quickly. But, his thoughts of quick violence were silenced as Brian walked around to his front. He sighed in relief and slowly turned back to examine what happened. MatPat and the tablet voice and another group of people, including Stampy, SSundee, and Squaishy.
"Well, we aren't all here yet, are we?" the voice asked.
Mark nodded, "We don't even know where everyone is,"
"Well, they might already be down with one of the doctors already," it replied.
Mat looked at the tablet, puzzled, "How would you know that?"
"Simple process of elimination. If they aren't doing anything else, that is the most likely option of what they would be doing."
The group looked at each other as the doors behind them opened up. They exited the elevator and into a small hallway that supposedly led to their next destination. In the end, there was a door. Excavious was subtly pushed to the front with Crystal-Flame, causing Ex to jump. He sighed and reached for a small handgun on his hip as he approached the door. Hesitant at first, they hid on the outside of the doors. Then, pistol in hand, Excavious quickly turned the corner to see an empty room.
As they entered, they realized they were in some sort of testing facility, some kind of testing place where inventions and such could be tested and tweaked to perfection. The rooms were vast and spacious, each room being a sizeable cube-like structure, hollow on the inside. Some places were open, while others were closed as if a thief came in and began to pull stuff in and out.
"Must have been a rush," Excavious commented.
Crystal-Flame nodded, "Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Same here," he replied. He could feel ready for an ambush since that may be something in the cards. For a moment, the only thing he could hear was him, Crystal, and the others breathing and their soft yet recognizable footsteps. Then, he heard footsteps ahead of him, running, and getting louder. He raised his pistol ready to fire, the end of the hallway in the crevasse of the iron sights. Then, a familiar face rushed into the view, and he hesitated, choosing not to pull the trigger. Cheshapeek appeared from his blurry vision as he lowered the gun, as well as the rest of the group. He sighed in relief, only then to notice the other person with them. His mind processed her look even before guessing who she was.
It was a woman. She wore a white lab coat with black running shoes, and a surgical mask covering the lower half of her face. Her skin was white, clearly showing dark circles surrounding her eyes. She wasn't wearing any makeup, and she seemed mildly calm and excited to see this group of random people breaking into her labs.
Behind them, Vanoss sighed in relief, "Colinne, I presume?"
The woman removed her mask and nervously chuckled, "Your presumption is correct, Vanoss."
A/N: This is part 2 of the revised System Breakers story that I'm writing. I'm taking my sweet time making this and I hope that y'all who read this understand why it takes so long. I'm right now busy with life and trying to keep my grades up. If you all enjoy this, don't be afraid to correct some of my knowledge on this. Again, thanks for reading and game on everyone!
(Also sorry for the strange look, had to copy and paste after a sudden error I made and wasn't willing to rewrite half of a paragraph again.)
