Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to and scenes including violence, torture, depression, and attempted murder. Do not read if you don't wish to see these.

The space station seemed off, as if something was missing from it. Throughout each and every room that Chris had used to do his intros, he was nowhere to be seen. The cafeteria had Chef in it, reading a magazine, and the remaining eight contestants were all spread out through different rooms, but Chris himself was stuck in the captain's quarters, supposedly ill. He coughed as someone much younger than him put an ice pack on his forehead, letting out a sigh as he couldn't help but feel miserable in bed.

"Can you have Chef bring me the soup in the break room?" he asked the young girl, who stretched her arms out, yawning.

"I'm tired, Chris," she replied, "I just traveled all the way up here, it was exhausting."

She had her reddish brown hair down, which went just above her shoulders before stopping and starting to wave at the bottom. Her eyes were a sparkly, bright blue color, hidden behind a large pair of purple rimmed glasses. As far as her outfit, she had a black jacket on, leaving the top unzipped to show a tee shirt underneath with a galaxy pattern on it, tan khaki pants, and blue sneakers.

"But I'm sick!"

"Alright, alright! I'm not some little pushover anymore, though. I'm a full on host now."

"I know that! No need to remind me about how you kicked me out of your show."

"Keep whining and you get no soup."

"No, please! I need that soup! Chef made it special!"

"You're such a baby sometimes, Chris."

"Whatever."

The girl turned from the host, headed towards the door before he called out to her, stopping her from leaving.

"One more thing."

"What's that?" she asked, turning to face him again.

"I don't feel well enough to do the recap...would you mind taking over for today?"

"You really mean that!? You want me to do your recap!?"

"Knock yourself out. Just this once, though."

"Awesome! I'll do a great job, I promise!"

Chris rolled his eyes as the girl cleared her throat, turning around again and bursting out of the captain's quarters, striking an immaculate pose as she appeared in the hallway.

"Last time on Total Drama Space Station: the final nine found themselves trying to relieve some of the tension that was lurking through the station, but it was made very difficult for a couple people! Anne was miserable about Natt being gone, but she refused to come to terms with that, making Alex, Archie, and March worry about her wellbeing. Tony was visited by my- er...a strange girl with a masked face, who demanded he let her use his room or cause his elimination from the competition. Kind of an abuse of power, I'll be sure to speak with her about it later- oh, ignore what I just said! Thomas showed off an odd collection Chris pictures in his room, each circled in strange spots. Talk about a superfan, right? The challenge for the day was an underwater fishing contest on Neptune, which makes no sense if you go be real physics-"

"Don't pull a Liz!"

"Okay, okay. The task was to capture a bunch of squidlike creatures called the Neptuids, so Chris and his producer friends could enjoy and exotic dinner, but Crustacean was there to prevent the group from catching them! She was promised reentry to the contest so long as no one got more than two of the Neptuids, and she wasn't alone! Alex refused to participate in the challenge, and instead fought Thomas to stop him from getting any points! Tony got a lot of diamonds from the curious rain on Neptune, telling Alexis he would use them for nice furniture for him and Liz later on. How sweet. Flint got separated from Alexis, and requested the aid of the Mother Neptuid to find her, while another mother went after Archie, March, and Anne for trying to get her babies. Gretchen also defended Tony's honor against Crustacean, who was still peeved about her elimination. In the end, no one got any Neptuids thanks to Alex's sabotage, so Chris eliminated him and went back on his promise to Crustacean, sending her to Playa Des Losers as well! Things are really getting heated now, I'm not sure I can handle the pressure of this."

"Oh, one last little bit."

"Huh? In the middle of my intro?"

"Yeah...since I'm so sick...you're hosting the episode today."

The girl's eyes lit up with excitement and she let out an excited scream so loud that everyone on board could hear it. The girl in the red dress heard it and recognized it immediately, a smiley face appearing on her helmet.

"She's here!" she said excitedly through her filter, "That makes this all more interesting!"

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked.

"Not talking to you!"

"Geez, sorry for asking."

"Ahem, sorry, sorry," the girl who had just been pronounced host apologized, "Who's gonna go home in this thrilling, yet intense, episode of Total Drama Space Station? Find out right now, with me, Dana Starshine, as your host!"

As the opening starts, the Chris space station is revealed and quickly zoomed into, showing cameras all over the corridors and traveling through them and reaching the captain's chambers, where Chris is shown. He shines an evil smirk before the camera zooms past, showing outside of glass in his room.

"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the lyrics start while Alex is shown in his orange spacesuit, trying to befriend a space monkey, which, in its scaly, grotesque, but somehow still fluffy appearance, swims through the empty space away from him. Slightly to the left of him is Natt, in his black spacesuit, clapping unenthusiastically.

"You guys are on my mind," the camera pulls back inside, showing the cafeteria where Gretchen playing her guitar on top of one of the tables, while Jianne covers her ears, disapproving of the noise.

"You asked me what I wanted to be, now I think the answer's plain to see," Thomas is seen peering into the captain's chambers, before turning to smile and wave at the camera. The camera slides over quickly, showing Luna and Liz shaking hands while crossing their fingers behind their backs, each with a sneaky smile across their faces.

"I wanna be famous," Damien is seen on a stage, performing in his own little play, before the door to the room is opened by Benjamin, causing the former to stop what he was doing.

"I wanna live close to the sun," Dusty is by the pool, showing March, who is clearly mortified, pictures of some horses from back home.

"So, pack your bags, cause I've already won," Taylor is lounging by the pool as Nicolás jumps in, splashing water on her and causing her to start yelling at him.

"Everything to do, nothing in my way. I'll get there one day," Haley and Sebastian are seen together in the gym, both looking away from each other while whistling awkwardly.

"I wanna be famous," Vicente is seen on the other side of the gym being chased by several interns with cameras.

"Na na na na na na na na na," Chef is seen in the kitchen, inspecting the astronaut meals in their small packages, and opening one labeled, 'popcorn,' causing the room to fill up with popcorn and Anne, just outside the kitchen door, to laugh hysterically. Chef then bursts out of the room and starts to yell at an unsuspecting Flint, who then realizes that he has similar, 'popcorn,' bags in his hands.

"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous," Alexis is seen tinkering with a control panel, in the dark. The lights then flicker on and she gives a thumbs up before the camera pans over to Archie in the observation room, where the lights flicker off and he lets out an annoyed sigh.

"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous," Crustacean is seen in the same room, clipping a wire on a control panel and bringing the lights back on, before the camera pans up to show the galaxy, panning back down after to reveal Tony among the other contestants, showing them some fake watches with a huge smile on his face as they are all seen whistling in chairs with Chris in a room full of escape pods.

It was still early in the day, but since tension had been so high lately, everyone had a hard time sleeping like they normally did. They were all out and about already, going on with their business as usual. Archie was going over some of his poetry in the auditorium, now being watched by Anne and March. He thought about it for a while, noting that he himself would've never imagined any sort of audience aside from his mother, maybe. As he went over bits and pieces, the two girls both watched enthusiastically, cheering him on whenever he finished a piece.

"What is the void of space?

Something which can be defined by the lack of anything,

Yet contain everything at the same time?

In the same way a heart can be mended

Simply by remembering what's missing."

He spoke the piece, feeling it was shabby compared to some of his other works, though March and Anne felt entirely different. The girl who had had known him the best out of anyone applauded loudly, while Anne chanted his name excitedly.

"Archie, Archie, Archie!" she chanted, causing him to smirk a little, hiding his expression behind his personal poetry book.

"Archie, that was so cool!" March shouted out to him.

"It was alright," he mumbled.

"Alright!?" Anne leapt up from her seat, dashing to the stage that he was standing on. "Is the comedic prowess of Weird Al just 'alright,' too?"

"Well..."

"Don't answer that! The point is that you're amazing at this, and you don't give yourself enough credit!"

"She's so right!" March joined the two on the stage. "You're the best poet I've ever met, and poetry makes me fall asleep most of the time, but yours has never done that to me! It's actually got personality and heart in it!"

"You guys mean those things?" Archie asked, a little flustered.

"Of course!" Anne announced as she patted his back. "We ain't a bunch of liars!"

"Well, thanks."

"Just you wait," March butted in, "When this is all over, you're gonna have a huge audience!"

"Gee, I don't know if I can handle huge..."

"Me, Anne, Damien, Luna, Jianne-"

"Jianne?" he blushed as he thought about her.

"Uh...yeah?" March slightly chuckled, "Something wrong with her watching?"

"No, not at all."

He looked down at the floor, remembering the girl that he had grown attached to throughout the season.

"It would be nice to see her again."

"Well, don't worry!" Anne chimed in, "She'll totally wanna see you perform!"

"Heh, that's nice..."

Confessional

"Jianne really is something else," Archie mumbled to himself, "I mean...have you seen her? She's literally amazing all the time. Anyone who says she's self-centered just doesn't understand what she's had to go through. I can't wait to see her again."

"I think Archie really likes Jianne," March noted, "Not that he doesn't like us, but he really likes Jianne. Like, a lot."

"Archie's got a knack for stage talent, much like myself!" Anne chirped happily, "Comedian, poet, artist, actor, rockstar- what a talented cast of people!"

Confessional End

Tony was in the cafeteria with Gretchen, which wasn't unusual now, knowing that she didn't hate him as much as she originally did. She strummed some chords on her guitar, trying to get something right, but finding it difficult to play what she wanted.

"Man, this is the worst," Gretchen said, irritated.

"What is?" Tony asked, eating in between his words.

"I can't seem to play anything I feel like. Every chord just sounds boring to me."

"Huh. Can I try?"

"Uh, I don't know if that's a great idea."

"Why not?"

"Do you even know how to play the guitar?"

"Not really, no."

"Exactly, you could mess it up if you're not careful."

"Eh, whatever."

Tony seemed out of it, like something was bothering him, but he couldn't speak about it. Gretchen looked at him with curiosity, wondering what was wrong with him.

"Are you good, dude?" she asked as he sighed and looked down at the floor.

"Sure, kinda," he answered, clearly upset about something.

"Seems to me that you're sad...or angry...I can't tell, you're good at hiding what you're actually thinking."

"Well, thanks for that last bit. But it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

He thought about the girl that had invaded his room the other day, shuddering at the thought that he could be eliminated if he spoke of her to anybody else.

"I just...miss Liz."

"Oh, me too. She's what made this really fun, not gonna lie."

"Yeah, she was..."

As Gretchen continued to play, Tony looked towards the doorway, noticing the girl in the dress at the doorway, waving to him creepily. His eyes widened as he saw her, and he coughed up some of his food from being startled.

"Gross, dude! Why'd you do that?"

"Eh, it was an accident! Just give me a minute, I'll be right back!"

"Okay?"

Tony hurried to the doorway, pulling the girl out of sight so Gretchen couldn't see who he was talking to.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, causing her helmet to light up with an angry face as she slapped his hands away from her.

"No touching!" she yapped at him.

"Okay, sorry! What are you doing here, though? You said if anyone sees you, you'll be in trouble."

"Indeed, I did."

"So why?"

"Because, I'm bored. And I finally get to take care of what I need to today."

"Which is?"

"Not your business, remember?"

"Right, I always forget that you just get to use my room and not tell me anything."

"Now you're getting it! In any case, I won't be needing your room anymore."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll be leaving you be from now on. Congrats, you survived the monster."

"That's...actually great news."

"Yeah, yeah. Now do me a favor and forget that I was here."

Without another word, she flashed something in his face, causing him to faint before she walked away from him.

Confessional

"What happened to me?" Tony asked himself, rubbing a bump on his head, "One moment, I'm in the hall, the next, I'm out like a light. Why was I out there, anyhow? No one else was there..."

Confessional End

Alexis and Flint were both in the basement, setting up the trap that they had spoke of before. The basement truly was expansive and dark, which gave them the room they needed to go through with their plan without a hitch or bump of any kind. Flint set up the rope while Alexis checked the room, pushing aside any boxes that would make it difficult for Flint to run from Thomas.

"Well, how much room do you figure you need?" Alexis asked her partner as he tightened the rope.

"Uh, a couple feet wide at least," he answered, "I need enough room to be able to adjust myself, you know, just in case I run too fast and don't turn a corner right away."

"Noted. We're really going through with this, huh?"

"Yeah, we are. Hopefully this'll be the end of his antics, too."

"We only get one chance to make this work, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know...but what happens if we fail?"

"...I don't want to think about it."

"That bad, huh?" Flint chuckled, "It could always be worse."

"Right...it could always be worse."

Confessional

"Alexis has been pretty quiet about what exactly is going on with Thomas," Flint thought about it for a moment, "But it's alright. She'll tell me when she's ready. Dude's super shifty anyways, he needs something done about him anyhow!"

"What he'll do if we fail, huh," Alexis looked to be in despair, "The mystery caller told me once...I'd like to think they were joking, though."

Confessional End

Thomas was the only contestant still in his own room, per usual. He cracked his neck as he looked at a picture on the wall, which was revealed to be a large one of Chris. Similarly to the small ones that hung from the ceiling, it had a red circle on it, this one in the center of his chest, He tossed the contact case from hand to hand, smiling at the picture creepily. His glasses lay on his desk, still cracked from when he had previously crushed them in his hand.

"Oh, Chris," Thomas spoke to the picture like he had no sanity left, "You know, you really do need this. Someone like you...the perfect target for an organization, such as mine. Corrupt, for one. You see an opportunity for money and you take it without a second thought, destroying ecosystems and ruining the lives of your contestants one by one. You're a cocky bastard, thinking you're hot sh%$ when we all know that you are one of the worst human beings to come from the world. I can't believe that you accepted me so easily, it's not like you to take someone in if you aren't aware of what they're capable. I mean, come on. My cover was a translator! What a ridiculous guise for me to put up. I spent months learning different languages to be able to trick all of you, and it actually worked! You're a damn fool, Chris. A damn fool."

He laughed to himself, opening the contact case and putting both red contacts in, covering his originally blue eyes. He pulled his hair back again, exposing his terrifying expression to the fullest.

"All I can say to you know...is enjoy the spectacle that you're about to be a part of. It'll be...phenomenal."

As he continued to laugh like a maniac, a knock came to his door, causing him to stop his explosive laughter and regain his composure. He sighed before opening the door, noticing the girl from earlier. He looked at her with a face of confusion, his hair still up and his contacts in.

"Quem diabos é você?" he asked her, though not expecting much of an answer other than "huh?"

"O anfitrião do dia, estou cumprimentando todos os competidores individualmente," she replied, speaking the same language as him, "Você é o Thomas, não?"

"Wow, you know Portuguese? I'm impressed that someone here can actually speak it."

"I started classes in grade school for several languages. As an important business figure, I do need to help with foreign affairs at some point."

"Wunderbar! What's your name, girl?"

"Dana Starshine, CEO of Starshine Industries. You know, the robotics company."

"Ah, indeed I do. I feel as if I've seen you elsewhere as well, can't quite put my finger on it, though."

"I was the primary host of the season before this: Mega Mechas. Chris and I sort of had some issues with each other, so we haven't spoke much since. However, certain circumstances have required me to come aboard this space station and take control for the day."

"How very interesting. This'll be quite the exciting day then."

"I'm glad you think so. Come down to the lobby, I'm about to tell everyone about today's challenge. You've got ten minutes."

"I'll be there in five, haha!"

Dana smirked, turning away from him to go back downstairs. Thomas sighed again, scratching his chin in thought.

"Now," he thought to himself, "I wonder what it could be that's caused Chris to step down for the day? Whatever the case, it should prove useful to my endeavor. Perhaps I should check LINK to see what he's currently up to..."

As Thomas pulled his device out, he opened the app, but was met with a digital version of the helmet that the dress girl was wearing. It had a laughing face on it, causing Thomas' eyebrow to twitch.

"Sorry!" the filtered voice said, "The connection has been interrupted!"

"Przerwane?" Thomas asked the device, growing angrier by the second.

"Your device will now self-destruct! Have a nice day!"

Thomas gasped as a ten second timer appeared on the screen of his device, causing him to toss it back into his room, eventually blowing up inside of the trash bin next to his desk. His heart was beating fast, this interference was not one that he expected.

"So, someone's out to get me, then?" he snickered to himself. "This day just went from interesting to exciting!"

Confessional

"Baha!" Thomas slammed his fist against the wall, "If someone sincerely thinks they can beat me at my own job, they've got another thing coming! I could maybe expect an interference like that from Nicolás, but his device is broken! I saw Vicente destroy it the other day, it was quite curious. This all leads me to believe that...whoever told Vicente to destroy Nicolás' device is the person that's currently going against me. How fun this day will be!"

Confessional End

Some time after LINK was finally destroyed for good, the final eight contestants met up in the lobby, as they were instructed by Dana to do so. Near her stood Chef and Amelia, as well as five other people that the group had never seen before. One was a girl with long, dirty blonde hair that draped down to the middle of her back, with blue eyes. Her outfit was entirely designer made, from the white jacket that sat atop her pink shirt, to the magenta pants and black shoes. She had an expression that read, "I don't want to be here!"

"This is boring with a capital b," the girl said as she chewed a piece of gum, "Why do we have to do this, Dana?"

"Do it, or no next season for you," Dana answered the girl's whining, which made her sigh aggressively.

"Who are all of those people?" March asked, intrigued by the new faces near Dana and Chef.

"We'll get to that in a moment," Chef replied, sounding ticked off. "This girl and her associates are here for good reason."

"Indeed," Dana continued, "Chris has unfortunately fallen ill, such a shame, I know. Anywho, I'm your substitute host for the day. There are eight of us, including Chef and I, to oversee each part of this challenge that is assigned to you."

"Each part?" Flint asked, "We're not doing the whole thing together?"

"Not at all. Allow me to explain. Your challenge today is about maintenance! Everything needs to be maintained, lest you wish for it to stop working. This space station is like that as well. There are currently eight things that need attending to, which will be assigned randomly by picking names through a hat. They're all variously difficult, so there's no telling if you'll have a good time today or not."

"If each part is different," Gretchen interrupted, "How will we know who wins? What's the point system for this?"

"We don't have a point system per se. All eight of us are each supposed to watch one of the zones to see how everybody does. After the challenge is complete, we'll decide among ourselves who deserves this win. The loser, on the other hand, is whoever fails to maintain their zone. If none of you fail, you could all very well make it past this challenge alive. It's not certain whether or not we'll have a loser."

"That's interesting," Tony thought out loud, "A challenge that could be only for a reward, or for elimination. What does the winner of this challenge get?"

"Glad someone asked," Chef butted in, "The winner of this challenge will get to have one loser of their choice visit them at the end of the challenge. Each of you maggots! Go to the confessional and say which loser you'd like to see so we can have them here for you at the end of the day if you win!"

Confessional

"I choose Natt, of course!" Anne said happily, "I miss him!"

"Dusty's my pick!" Flint expressed a fiery hope to see his rival again. "I wanna face off one more time!"

"Uh," Alexis thought about it, but she was having a hard time, "Maybe Vicente? He was always a cool guy."

"Nicolás," Thomas said with an evil look in his eyes, "I'd love to see him again."

"Definitely Liz," Tony said, looking at the picture of her in his locket, "I gotta show her these diamonds, baby!"

"Liz all the way!" Gretchen cheered, "I miss my little buddy!"

"Jianne...I'd like that," Archie mumbled.

"Um, um," March was flustered, "Oh mierda, everyone knows who I'd pick anyways..."

Confessional End

"Now, everyone settled?" Chef asked the group, all of which nodded at him, "Good."

"Is no one gonna ask why Thomas looks so weird?" Anne interrupted the debriefing, "Dude's all scary today!"

"Yeah, what's up with that Tommy?" Tony asked, causing Thomas to cringe at hearing the nickname.

"Thomas is fine, thank you," he replied coldly, "I'm trying a new look, I think it suits me."

"I think it looks alright," Gretchen noted, "Maybe ditch the contacts though. Makes you look like a serial killer."

"Noted."

"Ahem, moving on," Dana continue her speech. "The first zone we're assigning is the 'Pencil Zone!'"

"Pencil Zone?" Flint couldn't help but laugh at the name, "What even is that?"

"Arguably the easiest of the zones. All you have to do is make sure that a pencil, which is inside of a glass case, remains inside the glass case. Chef, the hat, please."

At Dana's request, Chef pulled his hat off, stuffing eight pieces of paper into it and jumbling it up. When he finished, he passed it to her, allowing her to pull the first name from the hat.

"Looks like the Pencil Zone is going to...Alexis."

"Oh?" Alexis was a little shocked, "I was hoping for something with more of a challenge, but that's alright, I guess."

"No need to rub in the fact that you got the easy one," Tony hissed at her.

"But I wasn't-"

"Whatever, zip it."

"As far as who you'll be supervised by," Dana went on, "Brittany will watch over the Pencil Zone."

"Yay, I get to watch someone watch a pencil," the girl from before said sarcastically. "Like, totally lame."

"Next is the 'Comet Zone.' This zone is more exciting, of course. What you'll be doing is going to the observatory to keep a telescope fixed on a comet. Unfortunately, the comet will only appear for a mere five seconds. You just need to spot it for two seconds total to pass that zone. And the winner of this one is...Thomas."

"Very cool, Miss Starshine," Thomas said with a tone of praise. "Who will I share this honor with?"

"Chef will be in that zone, I know you all know him well."

"I love comets," Chef put his two cents in, "Don't mess this up for me."

"Aye, aye!"

Thomas snickered as Chef rolled his eyes at him.

"Next on our list, the 'Plant Zone.' This zone is the most difficult one, for sure. You'll be in the Bio-Dome, an area I'm sure you're all familiar with. There's been an outbreak of cannibalistic plants in there. The little ones do pretty much no harm, but someone accidentally made one grow with a food growth compound, making it super aggressive. Your task is to keep it in check or take it down using only one bottle of weed killer. This zone will go to...Archie."

"Oh, great," Archie sighed, "I can't wait to fight a giant plant."

"And I'll be observing it!" one of the other girls chimed in happily, a thick Russian accent to her speech. "Belladonna Rastlina, at your service! Starshine Industries registered Environmentalist!"

The girl wasn't too tall, but not too short either. She was tanned, looking as if she frequently went out and enjoyed the sun. Her eyes were an emerald green color that matched her green hair, which was so long that it went down to her feet, though she was in the process of tying it into a massive bun, quickly tucking it under a tan sunhat. Her outfit consisted of a dirt stained white tee, which was worn under a pair of tan overalls with several gardening tools tucked into different pockets, and black boots.

"Why does a robotics company need an environmentalist?" Archie asked Dana.

"We do care how our inventions affect the planet, Bella helps keep everything A-okay," Dana answered quickly, "The fourth zone we have is the 'Splash Zone.' This zone is in the aquarium room, and it doesn't take much to take care of. Sometimes the sea life can get messy and splash water from the enclosures onto the floor. All you need to do is mop up each spill within a minute of it happening. This zone will be dedicated to...Anne."

"Oh, I love fishies!" Anne clapped, "Who's my buddy?"

"Yo," a brooding boy greeted her with a peace sign.

He was the most intense looking of the group, with clothes that suggested he was a burglar. He had on a navy blue hoodie with gashes all over it, and wore a white tee shirt underneath it. He had dark grey jeans on with scuffs on the knees, and heavy duty black boots. His face was just as intense as his outfit, including his shaggy grey hair that went down to his neck, with red at the tips. His eyes were dark grey, which paired nicely with his slight tan, though the entire bottom half of his jaw had a birthmark on it, making it look almost a dark red in color.

"That's Jackson," Dana noted, "He's my bodyguard."

"O-oh!" Anne was a little intimidated by the boy, "He sure looks like he could beat someone up if they looked at you wrong."

"Thanks," he said quickly, "I take pride in this look."

Anne quivered as his eyes landed on her.

"On to the 'Electric Zone!'" Dana continued, "This zone is another difficult one. You see, there's an electrical room somewhere upstairs, and it frequently blows fuses. There's so many panels in there, it can be really confusing to piece two and two together, especially since nothing is labeled. You need to make sure nothing stays blown for more than two minutes to do your part. I will be overseeing this part of the challenge. The person who gets to take care of it is...Gretchen."

"Aw, yeah!" Gretchen cheered, "Me and Dana, hanging out!"

"Only three more. The first of them is the 'Kitchen Zone.' In this zone, we've discovered an infestation of bugs. You need to track down where they're coming from and get rid of them pronto, not too bad, right? And don't ask how bugs got up here, I don't know either. Taking care of the infestation will be delegated to...March."

"Oh, how...gross!" March shuddered.

"And I will be judging your performance," a very tall girl chimed in, "My name is Millicent, but you can call me Milly, I suppose."

The girl had pale skin, but it paired well with her dirty blonde hair, which was done in a ponytail without a single strand of hair out of place. Her eyes were bright blue, and they glanced around the room behind a pair of oval glasses with a white frame. As far as her outfit went, she had short sleeved, white blouse, which was buttoned all the way up, and didn't have a single wrinkle in it. It was tucked into an ironed pair of tan pants, which were held up by a beautiful, black, leather belt. She also had black dress shoes, with the laces tied perfectly equally, and a wearable stopwatch on her left wrist.

"Does she have a special job?" March asked.

"No, I do not. I am simply here because my sister, her COO, is not."

"COO?"

"Chief Operating Officer, basically the second in command to the CEO."

"Oh, I see. I hope we have a fun time together!"

"Doubtful."

"Harsh!"

"Next, the 'Entrance Zone,'" Dana got everyone's attention once again. "This zone is basically just cleanup crew. What we need you to do is go through the dock and make sure all the garbage that's in there, which is a lot, due to the hatch letting it in a lot, gets taken care of before the end of the challenge. Taking out the trash, we've got Flint."

"Easy peesy!" Flint commented.

"And I'm your supervisor for this bit," Amelia said with an annoyed grumble. "I seriously can't believe this is going to happen. I'm supposed to be a star! Not a supervisor."

"Quit your yapping," Chef grumbled at her, "This is the best we got for you, so deal with it!"

"Lastly, we have the 'Warm Zone.'" Dana went on, "This zone can be difficult if you don't pay attention to what you're doing. Nearby the aquarium and the Bio-Dome, there is a dry room, t's essentially a large sandbox. It's very hot in there, so I'd only wear one layer of clothing if I were you. What you need to do to maintain this zone is make sure that the room's temperature stays above eighty degrees Fahrenheit, or about twenty-seven degrees Celsius. There are several switches in the room that cause different things to happen that'll either help you or harm your progress. Is there a point to this? No, not really. Anyhow, the only person left who needs a job is Tony, so congratulations."

"Eighty degrees?" Tony asked, appearing baffled, "That's ridiculous, but I'll do it."

"I'm your supervisor!" a voice shouted from near Milly.

Tony looked closely, but couldn't see anyone but the incredibly tall girl herself. After a few seconds, a much, much shorter girl came out from behind her. She had a thin body with a round face, probably thanks to just how short she was at about four feet tall. Her skin was white, not much of a tan to it, but not pale like Milly's, and her eyes were blue, fitting perfectly with her blonde hair, which was done as a double ponytail style, each ponytail being long enough to reach her shoulders. She wore black pants with white winter boots, but the most eye catching part of her ensemble was her white sweater, which had a big red heart at the chest.

"My name's Mimi!" she greeted Tony with a bright smile.

"Oh...uh...hey," Tony wasn't sure what to think about the girl, but he figured he probably got off easy with the supervisors.

"Now, before we send everyone off, I should note," Dana continued her bit again, "You are not required to spend the entire challenge in your zone. You merely have to finish your job before your time is up. Some people have more demanding zones, and won't be able to leave, but others with lax zones are free to move around as they wish. The supervisors will, of course, stay in their zone, just to make sure the task is completed. Finally, the explanation is over. The challenge is now starting, good luck to all of you."

People started to scramble immediately, most heading for their zones immediately. Some people, like Alexis and Flint, headed towards other areas, not their designated spots. Some of the contestants walked with their judge counterparts, though Anne was nervous all the way that she walked with Jackson.

Confessional

"Chris is sick," Thomas mumbled to himself, a twisted grin stretching across his face, "So...he's cooped up in his room. Alone. All day. No one else is gonna be around. Does anyone see how easy they're making this?"

"A stupid pencil?" Alexis scoffed, "I don't need to worry about that going anywhere. More importantly, I need to make sure that this plan Flint and I have goes well. We need to get it right the first time, because there is no second time."

"I can clean up garbage in two minutes, tops," Flint boasted, "For now, I think I'll just stay fixed on the plan."

Confessional End

"This is gonna be so much fun, Milly!" Mimi cheered to the girl that was over two feet taller than her. "I hope your contestant is fun to work with!"

"It is not about the fun," Milly replied in a matter-of-fact way, "It is about how she performs."

"Oh, you're so predictable."

"What?"

"You always say stuff like that. All the time."

"Hm, understood. I will change my vocabulary at some point."

"You're so silly!"

"Silly? I am not 'silly.'"

"I think it's cute," Mimi grinned as if she knew what was about to happen.

"C-cute!?" Milly suddenly grew incredibly red in the face, unable to force any words out of her mouth as her brain practically rebooted.

"Anyone seeing the irony in the little one calling the tall one cute?" Tony asked the few people that remained in the area. "Just me?"

"Oh!" Mimi suddenly slammed her fist against her palm, remembering her job. "That's right! I gotta supervise! Later, Milly!"

Mimi jumped up to Milly's height, kissing her on the cheek before falling back to the ground and hustling all the way to the dry room, being soon followed by Tony. Meanwhile, March sat near her, waiting for her to come back to reality. Eventually, the tall girl shook her head, looking down at March.

"Hi!" March waved to her, "It's nice to meet-"

"It is not nice, it's a mediocre meeting at best," Milly said almost without emotion, "Straighten your posture, you will have a crooked spine before you are twenty if you slouch all the time."

"Oh, uh," March tried to fix her posture, as Milly instructed her to.

"Do not wear a sweater tied around your waist, it looks messy. Put it on or leave it in your room."

"Um, but it's kinda my style."

"Hmph," Milly opened a notebook, scribbling something down in it. "Note: does not listen to reason."

"Are you taking notes on me?"

"Is there an issue?"

"I guess not, but-"

"If there is no issue, then do not ask about it. Now, come. We need to get you started on the infestation."

"Right..."

Milly quickly started towards the cafeteria, walking in a perfectly straight line as March followed behind her.

Confessional

"I got stuck with the crazy lady," March complained, "¿Por qué tuve que quedarme atrapado con la chica loca?"

"Easy win!" Tony cheered, "My judge is basically a human lollipop: super sweet! And super sweet means super easy to take advantage of in a game like this. Heh, this is too easy."

Confessional End

Belladonna and Archie had already made their way to the Bio-Dome, the environmentalist admiring the plants all throughout the room while the poet sighed, already annoyed with how the challenge may go. He scanned the room for the aforementioned cannibal plant, but he had a hard time finding it.

"Where is this thing supposed to be?" Archie asked his supervisor, who he glanced over at to notice her looking at the ground with a magnifying glass.

"Oh, that's very interesting!" Belladonna said as she watched the ground, "There are many lifeforms in this soil, it would seem the people who designed this room did so with the plants care in mind. That's absolutely phenomenal."

"Hey, kinda talking to you."

"One second! I do just admire these things."

She scooped up a handful of the soil from the ground, dumping it into a mason jar and tightening the lid on it. She pulled out a marker, writing down the date and the location on the lid.

"That'll fit nicely in my personal collection. Now then, what was it you were going to ask me?"

She rose from the ground, turning around to find that Archie was nowhere to be seen.

"Archie? Arrrrrrrrchie? Hmm, where could he have gone? Oh, well!"

She quickly returned to her business in the soil, looking at the bugs in the dirt and the minerals, enjoying what she was doing a little too much. Meanwhile, Archie had already gone deeper into the Bio-Dome, looking for the plant on his own. He pulled through many bushes and shrubs, eventually happening upon some of the smaller plants that had been mentioned. They were only about six inches tall, looking like Venus flytraps, though they had leaf like legs and arms. He looked at them in confusion, and they quickly scattered, clearly afraid of him.

"Cannibal plants can know fear?" Archie thought the situation was just getting weirder and weirder.

Confessional

"Belladonna isn't very helpful," Archie muttered, "She kinda just lives in this lala land where she only pays attention to plants and...dirt. Not that it's a bad hobby, but I'd like a supervisor that actually...you know, supervises."

"What can I say?" Belladonna posed the question with a chuckle, "I love plants! Oh, my father is calling me! Привет папа? Моя стена снова упала? Виноградные лозы повсюду? Я заземлен !? Ты не можешь меня заземлить, меня даже нет дома!"

Confessional End

Nearby, Anne had made her way to the aquarium with Jackson, who was just standing near the door, cutting his fingernails with a pocket knife. The comedian felt uneasy the entire time they were together, completely unsure of how to go about her challenge with this "creepy" guy near her.

"Wait, no!" she thought to herself, "I can't think he's creepy, I would never judge by appearances! That's what Luna would do! I need to keep an open mind on this Jackson fellow, he can't be all that bad!"

Anne turned to say something to Jackson, only to see him right behind her, scaring the life out of her and causing her to fall back into a mop bucket. He sighed, quickly helping her out of it and handing her a towel.

"Oh, uh, thanks," she mumbled, taking it from him and drying herself off.

"No problem," he said quietly, returning to his spot by the door.

The room returned to an awkward silence, with the boy pretty much unwilling to start conversation. Anne sighed, not wanting the negative atmosphere to stay as it was, and decided to talk to him herself.

"So, Jackson. What kind of jokes do you think are funny?"

"Jokes?" Jackson asked, sounding completely uninterested, "Nothing is funny. Everything is drab."

"Oh, come on! Everyone finds something funny."

"Well, I don't."

"Not even slapstick?"

"You mean that form of comedy that pretends to hurt people?"

"Um, I guess you could say that's what it is, but it's a little more than just-"

"It isn't funny. Pain isn't funny."

"Gee, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

"Whatever, just focus on your mopping duties."

Anne turned to see a spill near her, immediately grabbing the mop from the bucket and mopping it up with ease while Jackson just continued to watch.

Confessional

"Jackson is terrifying!" Anne shuddered as she thought about the boy, "Like, I can understand not wanting to talk to other people, but the knife thing was just odd! Who does that?"

Confessional End

At the same time, Gretchen and Dana finally got to the "Electric Zone," the zone which Dana knew the most about. The young girl walked through the room, looking at all of the panels lining the wall and snickered, knowing the difficulty that this posed. She turned to face Gretchen with a smile, pulling a small stool to herself to sit upon.

"Well, Gretchen," she started, "I understand that this part of the challenge is incredibly difficult, considering that there are so many of these switches. It'll be difficult to know when something is right or not. That's why I have this-"

The girl pulled a red light out, holding it up for Gretchen to see. It wasn't lit at the moment, so the rockstar wasn't sure what the point of it was.

"So...do I need to do something with that?" she asked the temporary host.

"No, not at all. This light will flash on when a fuse is blown, so you'll know that something needs to be fixed. When you hit the right switch, the light will turn off and you can return to waiting. This is all the help that you're getting from me, though."

"Well, beats getting no help at all. This is exciting! Chris totally blows, so having someone else be host is super cool."

"Er, thanks?"

"Can we play music?"

"Music? Why do we need music?"

"Music helps you work, you know? It gets you pumped up, you can get anything done with the help of music!"

"I guess so. Very well, you can play music."

"Sweet!"

As Gretchen got her answer, she pulled out a small speaker grabbing her device and syncing it up to the speaker. She scrolled through the device, looking for something to play.

"What kind of music do you like?" Gretchen asked, "I'm more of a hard rock type myself, but I can play anything."

"Hard rock is fine," Dana answered, staring at the light, "Whatever helps you."

"Sweet, you're the best!"

Gretchen pressed play on her device, causing some of her father's music to play, something that she could always jam out to. As she waited for the light to flicker on, she danced away the time. Dana watched her closely, smiling and tapping her foot against the leg of the stool.

Confessional

"This is a rockin' day!" Gretchen cheered, "I mean, it's not often that that psychopath has to stay in bed all day and leave us with someone who actually seems to treat her contestants well."

Confessional End

As five of the contestants had already made their way to their zones, there was still three zones that remained contestantless. Chef sat in the observatory, waiting for Thomas to come to the room, though it had already been about ten minutes since everyone broke off and headed to their zones. He read a magazine with Dusty's mom on the cover, enjoying himself as he lounged in his chair.

"Mm-mm!" he turned the page, "Ms. Upton sure is something else."

"Is she now?" the dress lady asked him, having appeared from out of nowhere.

Chef jumped from his seat, absolutely terrified since he heard no noise from her entering the room.

"Jesus, girl! Don't scare me like that!"

"Apologies, Mr. Scary War Veteran."

"What do you want? I'm already not thrilled about you being here."

"I want you to indulge me, tell me about your contestants. I want to see how much you know."

"The contestants? Well, Tony's greedy, Alexis is their leader or somethin', Flint bounces off the walls twenty-four seven, Anne makes stale jokes all the time, Thomas knows at least five different languages, Archie is the strong, silent type, March has an army of admirers, and Gretchen is a famous musician or something like that. That good enough for you?"

"Tsk," the girl shook her helmeted head in disappointment. "It would seem that you don't know some of them as much as you should."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I simply am looking for someone to help me pursue an endeavor, but you don't know what you need to know. Doesn't matter, though. I'll continue on my own."

"Why don't you ask your boss?"

"My boss is unaware of my whereabouts, it needs to stay like that for the time being. I'll speak to her when the time comes."

"Whatever, crazy."

The girl turned and left the room, not sparing another word to the Chef as she completely disappeared from his sight. All the while, Amelia was completely alone in the dock, waiting for Flint to arrive still. Granted, there wasn't much in the way of garbage to clean, but she was still irritated that Flint wasn't taking the challenge very seriously. She sighed as she sat on the steps.

"How did I end up being an intern?" she asked herself, "This isn't a role befitting of this kind of star."

"How do you think I feel?" Zachary asked after entering through the main doors.

"What do you want?"

"I'm bored, it isn't very fair that only you get to be a part of the challenge."

"It's not like I'm actually doing anything in this challenge. I just have to sit and watch someone pick up garbage, but he's not even in here!"

"Sounds mega lame."

"It is mega lame, 'Batdude.'"

"Okay, I get it. That role wasn't my best, no need to remind me!"

"Do you even have a best role?"

"Better than anything you've done."

"I resent that comment."

"Good, it was meant to make you angry."

"You're such a dick, Zach."

"Blah, blah. Well you're a-"

Confessional

"We don't get along very well," Zachary and Amelia said together in the confessional.

Confessional End

Lastly, Brittany sat in the hall which had the glass case with the pencil inside. She sat in a comfortable chair, tapping away at her phone, barely even glancing at the pencil itself. Somebody walked past her, though she payed them no mind as they did so, too absorbed in her phone to care about what was going on around her.

"Stupid Dana saying I can't be in the stupid season unless I help with this stupid challenge," she grumbled to herself. "Seriously, what does she take me for? An intern?"

She continued to look at her phone, still not paying attention to what was going on around her. All the while, Alexis and Flint were walking to Chris's room, hoping to find him in there to get him out of bed for their plan. Flint carried the note that they had made, the one that said "I will be in the basement" in Chris's handwriting. Alexis was barely able to mimic it, but it looked passable enough.

"So, you really think he'll fall for this?" Flint asked his partner, who thought about it for a moment.

"I think he will, yeah," Alexis replied, "So long as Chris follows along with the plan. If not, we're screwed."

"But will Chris follow the plan?"

"That's a great question. Let's ask him."

Alexis opened the door to the captain's quarters, expecting to see a sickly Chris in bed, though he wasn't there at all. She scanned the room, finding no trace of him throughout the entire room.

"Well that's...odd," she noted, tapping her forehead in thought, "Where is he?"

"Maybe he already knew about our plan and hid himself?" Flint suggested.

"I don't think that's the case, but we can try putting the note up anyway."

Flint nodded, taping the note to the door for anyone to see. Alexis high fived him after, both of them still nervous about what may happen if Thomas actually falls for the trap that they had set for him.

"W-well," Alexis continued, "I guess we should head down to the basement now."

"Yeah, guess so," Flint added, "Do or die, right?"

Alexis awkwardly laughed, but the joke that Flint had made was a little more accurate than he had imagined.

Confessional

"I should really tell Flint what Thomas is up to before it happens," Alexis mumbled to herself, "But I don't want him to give up on the plan because he got scared or something, that would ruin it...and...I'd..."

Confessional End

Thomas walked to his room alone, assuring that nobody had seen him walking through the halls. He remained with his terrifying grin across his face as he twisted his doorknob, opening his room and stepping near the contact case that he had left on his desk. He snickered as he tossed it from hand to hand.

"Oh, dearest host," he said with a maniacal laughter following his words, "It's all over now. The contract shall be completed."

He set the contact case down again, pulling his sweater and shirt off to reveal a tattoo of a small skull with a knife sticking in it near his left shoulder. He quickly grabbed a bloody red tee, tossing it on, but kept his tattoo exposed. He smirked as he reached for his bulky contact case once again, finally pressing the button on it to open a secret compartment on the top of the case, which revealed four collapsible knives. He grabbed all four of them, hooking each one to his belt before closing the case and putting it back in his pocket.

"Oh, this is just too exciting! I can't wait for this to come to it's climax!"

He sighed as he finished his maniacal laughter, tearing all of the pictures off of the wall. He grabbed Alexis, Flint, and Nicolás' pictures last, which were hidden among the many of Chris, grinning at them individually.

"Never have I ever had one small group of people give me so much difficulty on the job. I suppose I should congratulate each of you for that. Alas, I must take care of you three now. I simply can't have anybody knowing about this. You know, it would be bad for business. But, luckily for you, I need to deal with Chris first."

He tore all of the pictures to shreds, tossing them into his trashcan along with his journal that he had been using to keep his notes, lighting one singular match and tossing it in as well, setting the entire bunch on fire. He dusted his hands off, heading for his door and opening it, not seeing a single person nearby. He snickered as he very stealthfully headed towards Chris's room, being met with the note that Alexis and Flint had left earlier. He read it quickly, maintaining the smile on his face.

"Right, they mentioned this in their meeting," he whispered under his breath, "No matter. A fake note will not deter me so easily."

He turned the knob to the door, opening it slowly and noticing Chris's bed, which Chris was sleeping in. He smirked as he shut the door behind him, slowly heading over to the bed and squatting next to it.

"Chris?" he called his name, "I've heard you aren't feeling well, is that true?"

He heard no response from the host as he stayed squatted down next to him.

"Well, don't you worry. I've got just the thing to make all of the pain go away."

As he talked, he pulled one of the knives from his belt, extending a blade from it that was about four inches in length. He glanced at the blade, which shimmered in a very pleasant manner.

"Do widzenia."

With the final words, he plunged the knife through the sheets, only to feel it go through far to easily, with almost no resistance at all. Hs expression shifted to one of confusion quickly as he pulled it back, seeing a feather stuck to it. Irritated, he tore the blankets from Chris's bed, revealing a basketball with a Chris wig on it, as well as several pillows, made out to appear as if someone was sleeping in the bed. Seeing it, he couldn't help but let out a brief laugh.

"That's clever, you two!" he said as he put the knife back onto his belt. "Alright, I'll play along for now. To the basement, you say? I shall meet you there, my friends!"

Confessional

"The jig is up," Thomas said, glaring into the camera malevolently. "No, I had never intended to win this stupid game show. I'm simply here to do one thing, and one thing only. If you can't guess by now, I pity your puny brain."

Confessional End

Tony and Mimi arrived at their destination, the "Warm Zone," the only zone that none of the contestants had ever seen before. Dana was right in saying that it was practically a large sandbox. There was a large thermometer on the wall, which read the current temperature at ninety-five degrees. It reminded Tony of the time that the group had spent on Venus, how abysmally hot that was.

"Why is it this ridiculously hot?" Tony griped as he took his nice jacket off, setting it outside the room to avoid getting it coated in sand.

"She did tell you it was gonna be hot," Mimi said shyly, "I hope this isn't too bad for you, I really don't want any of you to fail."

"Eh? You don't even know us, why do you care if we win or not?"

"I want everyone to succeed! It doesn't feel good to wish bad things to happen to others, y'know?"

"I can imagine you wouldn't get very far in something like this then."

"Why not?"

"'Oh, I'm a sweet little sugar plum, I would never wish harm against someone else!' You think that would help get you farther in the competition?"

"Well, I dunno. Milly says I'm good at plenty of things, and I don't need to be mean to people to get far in life."

"You going based off of what someone else said proves that you couldn't take care of yourself in this cutthroat game."

"You're not very nice."

"Thanks, I try."

"Okay, fine, I won't help you with the challenge like I was supposed to."

"You what now?" he asked as she turned and faced the corner, her face showing how upset she was.

"I'm not talking to you anymore."

"What was that about helping me?"

"La la la, not talking to you."

"Oh, come on! I was kidding!"

"Really?" she turned quickly, her face bright with happiness again.

"Uh...yeah?"

"Oh, that's a relief! I knew nobody could seriously be that mean."

Tony almost thought that she was being sarcastic, but her expression said otherwise. He turned to look back at the thermometer, noticing that it was down to eighty-five from the ninety it was just at.

"It's already dropping this quickly!?"

"Oh, yeah. But you can slow it down by shoving some of the sand into the ACs and clogging 'em up good."

"What an amazing idea!"

Confessional

"This is the jackpot of all challenges!" Tony bragged, "I can't believe they're really letting me off so easy. Thank you, Mimi!"

"Tony is such a nice person!" Mimi said sweetly, "Right?"

Confessional End

Milly sat on top of a tall chair in the kitchen, watching March as she observed the cabinet under the sink, noting that the source of the bugs must've been inside it, due to the stray bugs crawling around the doors. March looked over at Milly with a look of disgust on her face.

"Do I really have to do this?" she asked her supervisor.

"No, of course not," Milly replied, "If you want to lose, that is."

"I don't want to lose..."

"Then I guess you have to do it."

"How do I even- I mean, there's so many! Can I at least have a pair of gloves or something?"

"Sure, there's some in this room."

"Really? That's a relief, where are they?"

"In the cabinet, under the sink."

"Oh, alright. I'll just-...I see."

"Mhm."

Milly scribbled something down in her notebook, closing it soon after and yawning. She stretched her arms out, clearly bored of what March was doing, and cracked her back on the chair, barely paying any mind to what was going on.

"U-um, Milly?" March nervously said her, gulping in a slight fear after.

"What now?"

"There's a bug on your leg..."

"There is?" Milly asked, looking down to spot the creature crawling on her left leg.

The supervisor let out a sigh, grabbing the insect by its antenna and rising from her seat. As it writhed in her grasp, she released it into the trash can, slamming it shut after. After all that, she went over to the sink and washed her hands thoroughly, not letting a single speck of visible debris remain on her hands.

"You're not grossed out by that?" March asked, quivering at the thought of some bug trying to crawl up her leg. "I would've had a meltdown just now if a bug was crawling up my leg."

"Why would I be grossed out by something so insignificant?" Milly questioned her with a look of genuine confusion on her face. "It's not like a bug is a permanent stain on my perfect record."

"Perfect record?"

"I do not let myself get dirty beyond repair, I do not let my hair frizz out, I always have perfect grades. A bug can not ruin my life, it is simply a variable that the world is throwing at me."

"Wow, that's...interesting. So you're the smartest person in your family?"

"Unfortunately, I can not take that honor. I do have a little sister...she is, regretfully, much smarter than I am."

"What's so bad about that?"

"It would not be so horrible if she had good morals, or at least did not do the things that she does."

"What kinds of things does she do? They can't be that bad."

"Maggie, my sister, has similar interests to me. I am very interested in human performance, I wish to see exactly how useful everyone can prove, so I watch people. The things they do, the things they say, et cetera. Well, Maggie is more invested in discovering human behavior."

"That's somewhat normal, don't they have a lot of careers for stuff like that?"

"They do indeed, but she does not care for regular human behavior. She only wants to know how humans will react when they are pushed to their very limits. She designs tests that push the boundaries that science can not cross, with little care about if it damages the person in question physically or mentally."

"That's horrible!"

"I have been saying that, have I not?"

"Why would she do something like that? What made her want to do that?"

Milly's gaze wandered the room awkwardly for a moment before she looked down at her shoes, avoiding direct eye contact with March.

"I guess the real answer is me. I am the reason that she wants to study people like that."

"What do you mean? You didn't tell her to do those things, did you?"

"No, why would I do that? Ever since she discovered my habits, around when she was five, she always wanted to follow in my footsteps. She recorded notes just like I did, and was always looking for something to research. I guess I may have been harsh on her, but I do not like people copying me. She showed me her findings one day, she was ten at this point, and her research was so thorough and brilliant that I...could not help but lash out at her. I called her a useless copycat in front of our family at some gathering, and threw all of her research into the lake. She ran away from the family crying that night, so my parents insisted I go find her, which I agreed to, understanding that it was technically my fault. Unfortunately, when I found her, something was really off. She had stumbled upon some parent yelling at her child, much like how I had just yelled at her. Then...she just decided to throw a rock at the parents head. She knocked them out, and hurt them really bad, but she did not care. All she was interested in was how miserable it made the child. That is how it all started."

"Oh my god," March looked at Milly in disgust, "You made your sister be...like that? That's horrible!"

"I tried to apologize to her, but she insisted that she was not angry or upset. She just kept thanking me for helping her find out what really piques her interest."

"Where is she now?"

"Well, she was expelled from high school for repeatedly sending death threats to teachers and kidnapping a cheerleader and forcing her to cheer for two days straight with no food or breaks. After that, she was placed on house arrest, but Dana, whom you met earlier, hired her as a co-host for her own Total Drama season, Mega Mechas. We begged her not to, telling her that Maggie was not meant to be out in the world for a long time, but she ignored our pleas. Now, she is the COO for Starshine industries, though she disappeared a little over a week ago. Dana is worried sick about her."

"Is she not worried sick about the people that she might hurt?"

"I am not sure, Dana and Maggie blend really well. The most recent time I spoke to Maggie, she showed me her findings about her boss. Apparently, despite the fact that she is only thirteen, Dana has some pretty severe depression, so Maggie tries her best to help her out with her 'episodes.' I have never seen her care so much for someone else in a long time."

"...I don't know how to feel about this!"

Confessional

"So is her sister evil, or is she caring?" March asked herself, groaning in confusion, "I don't understand!"

"Maggie is a special individual," Milly noted, "It is undeniably my fault that she is the way she is, but she seems to have found someone that keeps her at least slightly in check, doing the same favor in return. She is still dangerous, however. It is best to steer clear of her."

Confessional End

Back in the Bio-Dome, Archie was still looking for the plant that he was tasked with dealing with. He clutched the bottle of weed killer tightly, knowing that this beast of a plant could be anywhere and he would have no idea. The flora in the room could sometimes easily blend together, which made it very hard to tell things apart. As he walked, he heard some rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned back, watching the bushes intensely and expecting a large, monstrous plant. He aimed the bottle of weed killer directly at the bush, waiting for it to pop out. Eventually, something did pop out, but it wasn't a monster plant. It was just Belladonna, who dusted herself of after stepping out into the open.

"You?" Archie was somewhat startled, and let out an annoyed sigh, "Come on, I'm trying to find this plant. Why do you gotta sneak around like that?"

"I was sneaking around?" Belladonna asked, not understanding what he meant, "I was just taking the fastest route over here! Through the bushes!"

"Well, can you at least announce yourself next time? Seriously how am I supposed to focus on the challenge if my supervisor is distracting me like this?"

"Good question! I don't know!"

"Great, you're so helpful."

"I'm sensing some sarcasm, I'm not a fan of sarcasm."

"Well, I'm not a fan of annoying people who try to distract me from doing what I'm supposed to do."

"Annoying!?" she was offended by his comment, and began to whisper to herself. "Кто-то сегодня проснулся не на той стороне кровати."

"Now...where is this plant?" Archie asked himself as he continued walking through the heavily forested area in the dome.

Belladonna followed him, but she crossed her arms the whole way, not interested in trying to talk to him anymore. He could care less as they went on their way, eventually finding a clearing with the massive plant in the center of it. It ate an entire tree with ease, causing Belladonna to look down in despair.

"That poor tree," she mumbled, "It could've had a much more fruitful life."

"It's a tree," Archie replied, questioning her concern.

"Yeah? Trees are living things, you know. Treat them with the same respect you give to humans and animals. I swear, nobody remembers these things."

"Right. Well, how am I supposed to deal with this plant?"

"I'm not sure. It, like the other small ones, was once a Venus fly trap, though some alien compound has turned it into this. We know that they're susceptible to the weed killer that you have currently, but they need to ingest it. This is unfortunate for you, as you'll have to get up close and personal with that monster."

"Wonderful. It doesn't eat people, right?"

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't, but I dunno."

"What do you mean, 'you dunno?' Aren't you supposed to know all about it?"

"Hey, I don't work here. I'm just here for the day."

"Amazing, fantastic. Ugh, alright. Here goes nothing."

Archie entered the clearing, walking up slowly to the massive plant-like creature with the bottle in his hand. It turned to "face" him, seemingly staring at him as he approached.

"Hey...Mr. Plant. I just gotta get a little closer to you, don't mind me."

As Archie got closer and closer, the plant "watched" him more intently. When he was close enough, the plant grabbed him by the leg with one of its "arms," swinging him around before tossing him into a shrub near Belladonna, who gasped, running over and pulling him out of it.

"Are you alright?" she asked, checking him for injuries.

"Just peachy," he answered, brushing himself off before heading back towards the monster. "Okay, you dumb plant. Enough playing around."

He readied his bottle of weed killer, charging the plant, only to be grabbed by the leg again and flung back into the very same shrub that he landed in before. He groaned while Belladonna pulled him out of it again, once again checking him for injuries.

Confessional

"Never thought that I'd be enemies with a massive plant before," Archie muttered, annoyedly. "Can't say I'm all too thrilled about it, either."

Confessional End

In the basement, Flint and Alexis were all set to go through with their plan, each of the two standing in separate spots that they thought of specifically for the purpose of completing this "mission." Alexis gave the rope a tug, making sure it would hold well if she managed to get Thomas snagged in it, while Flint stretched out his legs, getting ready to run for a good long while.

"Hey, Alexis," Flint called her attention.

"What's up?" she asked, still checking her trap.

"Aren't you kind of worried that we'll lose the challenge if we're down here the whole time?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're supposed to finish these maintenance tasks, right?"

"Yeah? What about them?"

"If we stay down here, we won't be able to do them. We'll get eliminated and Thomas might be able to stay."

"I have a feeling that Thomas isn't paying much attention to his part of the challenge either. After all, he's got important business to take care of."

"What important busi-"

"Anyway!" Alexis was quick to interrupt Flint. "We should be fine for the challenge. All I have to do is make sure a pencil stays in a glass case, how hard can that be? And you just have to pick up some garbage, right?"

"I mean, yeah, but-"

"No buts, you'll be fine! You can speed run it super easily, I believe in you!"

"Well, that's nice and all, but I just-"

"Come one, Flint. For me?"

"Alright, knock it off!" he suddenly shouted at her, catching her off guard.

"F-Flint?"

"What is Thomas up to!? What is he doing that's so bad? I've been asking you all this time, but you haven't told me anything aside from him being creepy to you and kind of stalking you! Why won't you tell me!?"

"Because I..."

"Because you what?"

"Because if I told you, you wouldn't have agreed to help me!"

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"Because...Thomas is trying to-"

"Why, hello, you two," Thomas' voice choraled from the top of the stairs to the basement, "Whatever are you doing down here?"

Flint and Alexis looked over at him, immediately noticing his interesting outfit as he stepped down the stairs, coming closer to them. Alexis could feel herself growing queasy, not sure if he actually went through with his job or not.

"Thomas?" Flint looked over him, not understanding exactly what he was doing, "W-why do you have all those knives?"

"Hm?" Thomas looked down at his belt, letting down a chuckle, "Oh, has she not told you?"

"Alexis, you need to tell me now. I'm not feeling right about this."

"T-Thomas is," she found herself having a hard time spitting the words out.

Thomas waited for her to say it, but she just couldn't do it, as she was full of fear. The twisted individual let out a sigh, rubbing his brow in an agitated manner.

"'Thomas is an assassin!'" he blurted out, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Assassin!?" Flint was taken aback by the statement, "Come on, you're pulling my leg!"

"I assure you, Flint, I am very serious about my job. I would never joke about it."

"What does an assassin want with a show like this, though!? Huh!?"

"Quite simple, actually. My organization specializes in handling individuals that have gone too far off of the deep end. People who have gone unpunished for their crimes, in our eyes. Our target in this mission was, of course, Chris. I'm sure you both can imagine why that was?"

"B-but...this doesn't..."

"Oh, man! Alexis, you really should've let your 'simp' know about this before you roped him into it. Look how terrified he is, now! Looks like he could pee his pants at any moment."

Alexis looked down in shame, feeling the regret that came from not letting Flint know anything. Though, oddly, the boy reassured himself that he would be alright. His face grew intense, and he cracked his knuckles and stretched his legs, intriguing Thomas.

"Look, maybe she didn't tell me," Flint said, carrying an impressive amount of intensity in his voice. "Maybe I've been in the dark about this the whole time, and maybe you're way smarter than me."

"No doubt about that last bit," Thomas mocked him.

"But she needs help. And I'll be damned if I sit here and let some assassin with cheesy contacts hurt her. I'm gonna take you down, no matter what."

"Well then," Thomas started to clap slowly, "I suppose I can spare a few minutes for the both of you. And you know what? To make it fair, I won't even use my weapons. I'll take care of this with my hands only. Sound fair to you?"

"As fair as it gets."

"But there is one slight disparity I'd like to take care of first."

"What are you talking about?"

Before he or she had time to react, Thomas rushed over to Alexis, elbowing her in back hard and causing her to fly forward to where the trap was set. He quickly tugged the rope and tied it to a hook on the wall, causing her to dangle by her ankles.

"Ow," she groaned as she dangled, leaving Flint terrified for her sake.

"Thomas, you a%$hole!" the boy growled at his opponent, "How could you do that!?"

"A two on one isn't very fair, is it?" Thomas asked, a mocking tone residing in his voice still. "Now, what was your plan again? You're gonna run circles around me, right? And then, here's the kicker, you'll wait for me to get tired from chasing you around while she watches, yeah? And then I'll conveniently let you guys just catch me right there so you can say your stupid catchphrase? What was it again...Flint Goldenrod tuning down? You've got a big imagination in that tiny brain of yours, I'll give you that. Come on then. 'Take me down.' You can do that, right? Well, Flint, du bist dran zu sterben."

As Thomas cracked his neck, getting ready for the upcoming fight, Flint felt a nervousness that gnawed at his stomach like a worm to an apple.

Confessional

"Top ten most terrifying things to have ever happened to me in my whole life right there," Flint noted, shaking like a baby, "I mean, what was I supposed to do? How could I be expected to fight a guy who's trained in this sort of thing?"

Confessional End

In the aquarium, Anne was hard at work mopping up spills as soon as they popped up, Jackson paying her barely any attention. He simply sat near the door, waiting for the challenge to be over and done with. He looked at the timer he was given from Dana, which only had one minute left on it. He glanced over at Anne, who was dashing all over the place, mopping to and fro, trying her hardest to dry off the floor quickly enough to keep herself in the game.

"You're down to the last minute," Jackson said, sounding bored. "Think you can make it?"

"Heck yeah!" Anne cheered, "Anne Canne!"

"Was that supposed to be a pun?"

"Uh...yes!"

"Well, it was stale. You need to work on your material."

"Wow, that's a little rude."

"Just being honest with you."

"Oh yeah?" Anne glared at him, tossing the mop into the bucket as the timer went off. "Well, how about some honesty for you!"

"Go on, clown."

"Being a miserable jerk and constantly demeaning others just so you can feel better about yourself is kind of a crappy hobby. Maybe you should take a lesson or three from anybody else on this station on how to improve your attitude."

"Wow, I'm so offended. Shiver me timbers. Go on, get out of my sight."

"Gah, you're so rude!"

Anne stormed out of the room, leaving the boy alone with an index card in his hand. It read "Anne's Performance" on it, with five empty stars on it. Carefully, he filled in four of them and signed off on the bottom, stuffing it into his pocket soon after.

"Nice job, clown. Nice job."

At the exact same time, Gretchen and Dana were jamming out to rock music in the control panel room, the rocker flicking switches here and there to fix certain fuses while she danced. Dana was a little more reserved with her own dancing, just kind of shuffling from side to side, until Gretchen grabbed her hand.

"Come on, Dana!" she tried to hype the girl up, "You gotta move more like this!"

Dana observed Gretchen as she flailed her arms from side to side, almost resembling a jellyfish. She tried to do it herself, not getting the groove quite right and looking downright goofy. She blushed, feeling she embarrassed herself in front of the rocker, but it was quite the opposite actually.

"Go, Dana! Go, Dana!"

Hearing the cheers from the contestant she was supervising, she couldn't help but smile a cheesy smile, wiggling her arms even harder. The timer soon went off, and Dana suddenly stopped, grabbing a similar index card to the one that Jackson had used for Anne.

"Well, this has been certainly entertaining," the temporary host noted to the contestant, "I appreciate being able to spend this challenge with someone as exciting as you."

"That's so sweet!" Gretchen hugged the girl tightly before heading to the door, "You know, you should totally come see some of my shows down the line! I can get you backstage!"

"I would like that, Gretchen."

Gretchen gave her a thumbs up before heading out of the room, leaving Dana to give her a five star rating and signing off on it, like Jackson had before.

"How wonderful that was."

Confessional

"Gretchen was very nice to be around," Dana noted, giggling a little from remembering her awful dancing skills that the rocker approved of, "This just makes me miss Maggie even more, though. Where could you be, Maggie?"

Confessional End

Back downstairs, Thomas and Flint had started their bout already, and the speedy boy was getting his butt handed to him by a landslide. He already had a bruise on his left cheek from a punch he took, and his ribs ached from a kick that he received. He hadn't yet landed a single blow on Thomas, and he was beginning to think that it would be impossible. His breathing had gotten heavier, feeling the pain all around was taking a lot out of him. The translator couldn't help but laugh as Flint tried to punch him again, before grabbing his fist and twisting it, headbutting him soon after and knocking him back.

"Aw, what's the matter, Flint?" Thomas mocked him again. "Is this really the best you can do? I know you've got better than this."

All the while, Alexis was tearing up at the sight, though she was also finding it hard to stay conscious with all of the blood rushing to her head. Flint looked over at her, huffing in pain as she cried for him.

"Thomas, please," she started to beg him slowly. "Don't hurt him, I roped him into this."

"Shut your mouth," Thomas quickly hissed at her, "You ruined everything, I will not fall to your demands!"

"You...son of a...bitch," Flint insulted him, breathing heavily between each word.

"Oh, I'm hurt. That wasn't nice at all, Flint. You got anything else?"

"Yeah...try this!"

Flint flew forward as fast as he could, aiming to punch Thomas across the face, though the assassin ducked underneath it, sending an uppercut into his jaw and sending him flying into a pile of crates, busting them to pieces as he landed. Alexis gasped at the sight as Thomas wiped his knuckles on his shirt. While this was going on downstairs, March was attempting to take care of the infestation in the kitchen with a bottle of hairspray and a lighter. Milly shook her head in disappointment, writing more things down in her journal as March opened the door to see the mass of bugs in there.

"Such a crude way to take care of this," Milly mentioned, "I am certain you could have done much better than this."

"I don't care how good it looks," March replied with a hint of agitation, "I just want this over and done with. You're so spiteful."

"Spiteful? I do not understand how I am spiteful. I am simply observant."

"You don't see how spiteful you were to your sister?"

"I would say I was rude, not spiteful."

"No, because you wanted to do what you did. You made that very clear to me. And now she's messed up because of you."

"That is quite the accusation. She was always an oddball."

March suddenly torched the infestation, tossing the can and the lighter in the trash soon after. Milly filled her card in with two stars and signed it before putting it back into her pocket, looking at March incredibly disappointed.

"She looked up to you!" March argued, "And you didn't like that because you didn't like that she was mimicking you?"

"Well, it was more like I did not want her to surpass me."

"So you're just fine with her being damaged beyond repair?"

"That would be her problem, not-"

"Fu$% you!"

"Language!"

"You're seriously messed up if you think that's okay! I'm not perfect, but I know me and all the others here would never do something like that to a family member and just think it's okay!"

"I am not messed up-"

"Yes you are! ¡Dios mío, se lo diré a tu novia! Veamos lo arrogante que eres cuando se entera de esto."

"I do not speak Spanish, would you mind repeating that in English or German?"

"Vete al infierno."

March quickly left the kitchen, slamming the door behind her as Milly wrote more things down in her journal. Across the building, Tony was just finishing up with his part of the challenge, though he had worked up quite the sweat in doing so. He played around with the switches on the wall, some turning the heat up and others turning various fans off. Mimi was also a mess due to the heat, and she had changed into a white a-shirt and pink shorts, trying to beat the heat. Finally, the timer on her wrist beeped, and the both of them sighed in relief before heading out of the room.

"What a terrible room!" Mimi exclaimed, wiping the sweat from her brow. "You did a good job, Tony!"

"Oh, please!" Tony replied with a manipulative tone, "It was all thanks to you, you're a great supervisor."

"Aw, that's so sweet!"

Mimi grabbed her index card from her pile of clothes near the door, scribbling four stars in and signing off on it while Tony snuck a glance at it, smirking as he saw the result before turning away inconspicuously when she looked back at him.

"Well, it's finally over and done with. I'm glad I never have to go back in there again."

"Chris could always have another challenge in there, you never know."

"I hope not. Room was so hot I could feel myself cooking in there."

"Hey, who's that?" Mimi asked, pointing into the distance at March, who was angrily coming their way.

"March? What's she doin' here?"

"Hi!" March greeted the two, though her voice was full of rage, "You're Mimi, right?"

"Yes I am!" Mimi cheerfully replied, "Whaddya need?"

March leaned in close to whisper something to her, leaving Tony a tad confused about what the two were going on about. As the whispering went on, Mimi's face grew increasingly upset and angry, causing Tony to really wonder what March was saying to her.

"Come on, secrets don't make friends," Tony said.

"Don't be a hypocrite," March replied coldly.

"She did what!?" Mimi shouted angrily. "Oh, I'm gonna take her down a notch, don't you worry. MILLY!"

Tony scratched his chin as Mimi ran off towards the cafeteria, leaving him alone with March.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"Oh, her girlfriend was just being an awful person," March replied, "I'm sure you can relate."

"Hey, take it easy. I ain't done nothing to you...recently."

"Whatever, Tony."

Confessional

"Mimi was way too easy to use for this challenge," Tony said with a smirk, "Big win for me today! I'm gonna enjoy seeing Liz again!"

"I hope I didn't ruin their relationship," March muttered, "But Milly needs someone to make her understand how bad what she did was!"

Confessional End

Back in the basement, Thomas had figured Flint was down for good this time. He kicked him in the chest as he lay in the pile of shattered crate, smirking when the boy ached too much to move on his own.

"Well, I guess that didn't work out so well for you, did it?" Thomas asked him, though he didn't get a response. "Now then, I think I'll take care of something that has been getting on my nerves for a while now."

He turned away from Flint, slowly walking towards Alexis with an evil look in his eye. He grabbed on of his knives from his belt, extending it like he had before. She sobbed as he got closer and closer, trying to wiggle her way free, but making no progress in the slightest.

"Alexis, calm down!" he said in a tone that made him sound insane, "It's just the end of the world for you! Think of it this way, at least you were important to someone before your end, right?"

"Don't do this," she begged, "You don't have to, I'm not gonna say anything about it ever."

"Psh, as if I could trust someone like you. Listen, lady. I'm an expert at what I do, do you have any idea how humiliating it has been for you two and Nerdy McNerderson to give me the run around for this long? I'm certain my associates will give me an earful when I return, and it's all because of you guys! Why should I forgive you for that?"

"Please..."

"Looks like you've got nothing else to say. Well, this has been fun, but I'm afraid it's over now. Pożegnanie"

As he rose his arm, he heard a voice behind him, which startled him greatly.

"Hey, Thomas!" Flint shouted, causing the assassin to turn around, only to be met with a broken plank to the face at incredible speeds, knocking him straight to the ground, "It's Flint Goldenrod, signing off!"

"Flint!" Alexis gasped as he shoved Thomas' unconscious body aside, quickly grabbing his knife to cut her down and catch her. "You did it, you did it!"

"Yeah, that was...something else."

She hugged him tightly, crying from the entire experience as he carried her upstairs, slowly recovering his strength.

"Now, we've got a challenge to go finish, right?"

"Y-yeah!" Alexis nodded.

The two left the basement area with the knocked out assassin on the cold ground. In the furthest corner of the room, a helmet lit up with a smiling emoji face.

Confessional

"Flint," Alexis thought about her partner, "Some people may think he's stupid, some may think he's arrogant. But you know what? He saved everybody tonight, and I can't thank him enough for that."

Confessional End

Flint rushed into the dock, where Amelia and Zachary were waiting for him with only one minute left on the clock. They didn't even have time to greet the boy as he dashed past them, grabbing as much trash as he could and tossing it into various bags that he had with him. They were astounded by the speed of the boy, their jaws dropping as he picked up the very last bit of trash just before the timer was up. Flint huffed, exhausted from all the running and his fight. He had two bruises on his face, one on his left cheek, and one his chin, and he was out of breath, but he stood victorious despite them.

"How'd I do, fellas?" he asked with a grin.

"G-good, I guess," Amelia mumbled, filling in three stars on his card and signing off on it. "You only lose some points for being absent for the most part of today."

"Eh, figures. I knew I wouldn't win the prize today."

"How did you do that?" asked Zachary, who couldn't help but feel inferior to the boy, "That was literally insane."

"Oh, just a lot of practice. A lot of practice."

Flint laughed a little as he passed the interns by again, heading back into the lobby with a smile shining on his bruised face. In the Bio-Dome, Archie was still being tossed about by the massive plant while Belladonna watched helplessly. As it launched the boy back into the bush, he rose from it with a face full of determination.

"How much time is left?" he asked his supervisor, who looked down at her timer.

"Uh...two minutes," she replied, "That's all you got. Are you sure you can do this?"

"Sure? Oh yeah, I'm sure. Just watch me."

"What are you going to do?"

"Heh, I'm gonna kick this plant's butt."

Archie started towards the beast once more, tearing the sprayer off of the bottle in his hand, standing just before the monstrous thing as Belladonna watched eagerly, wondering what the boy's game plan was.

"Hey, ugly!" he shouted up at the plant, which, though it couldn't glare, gave off an angry aura, "Why don't you try that again? I dare you!"

The plant was quick to grab him by the leg, but before it could swing him around again, he tossed the whole bottle of weed killer into its gaping maw, causing it to start choking on it, dropping Archie, who was caught by the surprisingly strong Belladonna.

"You alright?" she asked him, receiving a nod as he hopped out of her arms and onto the ground.

"Yeah, it's all over now."

The massive plant beast reeled back, trying to spit up the weed killer, but failing, falling to the ground and wilting quickly.

"Oh, that's always so sad to watch," Belladonna sighed, but she pulled Archie's card from her overalls. "You did a great job today, I apologize for not being much of a help to you earlier."

"It's alright," he replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, "I was a tad too abrasive earlier, too."

"Well, I've gotta get back to my associates now. We need to figure out who won this challenge and who lost."

"Ah, understood. Good luck with that."

"Thanks, Archie. Once again, nice work. You saved this beautiful dome, and that's something to be proud of."

"Heh, alright, alright. Go on back to your pals."

Belladonna snickered as she waved to him, rushing out of the dome and to the others.

Confessional

"I must admit," Archie started, "She wasn't the best supervisor ever, but she was positive. I appreciate that."

Confessional End

Chef has been waiting for a long time for Thomas to show up, but the boy never did. He let out a sigh as his timer went off, rising from his seat and signing off on Thomas' card with zero starts filled in.

"Making me wait all day and doesn't even show up," Chef scoffed, "Hope he likes going home tonight."

As Chef left the observatory, Brittany was still tapping away at her phone when Alexis finally showed up at the Pencil Zone. The girl looked up from her phone at the contestant, and rolled her eyes at her.

"I'm here!" Alexis said with a huff, being out of breath from running all the way, "Can I still score some points?"

"Like, totally not," Brittany started, "The pencil is gone."

"Wait, it's what!?"

"Yup, totally left the case earlier in the challenge. Such a shame that you weren't here to guard it."

"But I...you must've taken it!"

"LOL, no chance."

"Then who did, huh?"

"Some boy or something, I dunno. I wasn't paying much attention."

"Was it not your job to pay attention?"

"Was it not your job to keep it from getting nabbed?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"But nothing! Later losey loser, I gotta tell the others that you lost!"

Brittany rose from her seat, leaving Alexis behind, dumbfounded.

Confessional

"Who could've taken the-" Alexis cut herself off, suddenly realizing, "Thomas!"

Confessional End

Seven contestants stood before eight judges in the escape pod room, most of the contestants looking exhausted from their challenges and, in Flint's case, fight. Alexis, on the other hand, looked miserable. Milly looked down at the ground, clearly upset as Mimi pinched her ear, pulling her down to her level.

"I am so not kissing you for a week," Mimi hissed.

"That is not fair," Milly replied, "Can it just be one day?"

"Well..."

"Ahem!" March grabbed Mimi's attention and shook her head.

"No! Two weeks now!"

"Aw..."

"Looks like some of you guys had fun today," Jackson snickered as the girlfriends sparked up drama.

"Leave them alone, jerk," Anne growled at him.

"Alright, backing off, clown."

"Why is there so much tension?" Belladonna asked, "This was a great day!"

"Sure was," Dana added, "I had a wonderful time."

"That's awesome for you," Brittany rolled her eyes, "My contestant didn't even show up 'til the last second."

"You too, huh?" Chef scanned the room for Thomas, though he still wasn't there.

"Mine was late," Amelia mumbled, "But...he's so fast..."

"Haha, yeah I am!" Flint cheered.

"Alright, alright," Dana interrupted the fun, "Unfortunately, we must move on to the elimination for the night. I'm sad to say that not only one of you has been eliminated tonight, but two. Two of you failed your challenges, which means you'll both be taking your leave tonight. The first of which is...Alexis."

"Woah, woah, what!?" Flint cried in anger, "But she was-"

"I know, it sucks. But those are the rules."

"Flint, it's alright," Alexis said as she started slipping into her space suit, "I was a part of something insane, this has definitely given me a chance at something fresh and different from my life at home. And...you were a good partner."

"My queen, it's been an honor."

Flint bowed as Alexis started towards the escape pod, stepping in it and nodding to the others as Dana pulled the lever, shooting her away from the station for good this time. The boy sighed, having lost a great friend tonight.

"And that leaves us with the other eliminatee for tonight. I'm sorry, Thomas, but you're out. Thomas?"

As the host looked around for the other contestant, she couldn't find him. The supervisors and contestants both looked confused, all except for Flint, who knew exactly where he was.

"Oh!" Flint interrupted the silence, "He's in the basement!"

Thomas slowly started to regain his consciousness in the basement, though he immediately noticed that something was off. He was tied up tightly, his arms behind his back and his legs cuffed at the ankles, with the pencil he had stolen cracked in half on the ground next to him. He tried to move, but found himself unable. As he looked up from the ground, he saw the girl in the dress standing above him, her helmet blushing intensely.

"Who are you?" he asked as he continued to struggle.

"My beloved up close," she said in a perverse tone, "So beautiful!"

"Beloved? I don't even know who you are."

"You're my one and only! I'm so excited to finally meet you!"

"What are you on about? Let me out of these bindings or I'll kill you!"

"Oh, stop please! I can only be so attracted to someone!"

"What in the hell is wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me? Ha...is that really a question you want an answer for? It'll take a while to explain."

"Whatever, what's with the helmet? Wait...I saw that helmet earlier! You made my device explode!"

"Oh, I should take this off! I want you to see you face to face, I've been oh so eagerly awaiting this!"

Thomas watched as the girl removed the helmet, tossing it to the side to reveal her messy dirty blonde hair that went down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were green in color, though she had intense dark circles around them.

"You look tired," Thomas mumbled.

"Of course I do!" the girl replied in her normal voice, "I've been up for the past five days! I'm just so excited to see you! Do you think I look good?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Please say yes, I've just been looking forward to this. You're the only person who understands!"

"Understands what?"

"The corruption of humanity which pulls people through the dirt. People will go on and on about how we need change, when they still feel the need to berate someone who disagrees with them. You'll see a parent scold a child for trying to impress them with a drawing on the wall, or some guy lose his job because the big boss didn't seem to like how he looked. People are full of corruption, and some of them need to be taken down a notch."

"...I'm listening."

"My name is Maggie, my beloved."

"Tho-"

"Oh, I know you well."

"Right, but why are you not afraid of me if you know about me?"

"Why am I not? Heh, simply because I love you. You're a sparkle among the dust."

"That's...sweet? I think?"

"Your skills combined with my designs...I'm sure we would make quite the power couple."

"I mean, I did just meet you..."

"Hmm, what would make you like me more...oh, you boys like these, right?" Maggie tugged her dress down slightly, exposing her chest to Thomas, whose nose bled immediately as he turned to face the other way.

"Miss Maggie-"

"Please, just Maggie is fine. You are my beloved after all."

"Okay, fine. Maggie, you don't have to show me those."

"What? Do you not like them?"

"It's not-"

Suddenly, the basement door swung open, Dana soon barging in looking for Thomas.

"Thomas, you've got to go you've been-" suddenly, she noticed her COO with the assassin, "MAGGIE OH MY GOD PUT YOUR BOOBS AWAY!"

"Eh, fine," Maggie shrugged as she tugged her dress up again, letting Thomas look back without having to bleed from the nose.

"Maggie...when did you get up here?"

"I left to see my boyfriend!"

"We just met, I don't think you're understanding that," Thomas mumbled.

"But...I've been worried sick about you."

Dana started to sniffle, causing Maggie to rise from her spot and rush over to her.

"Oh, Dana, I'm sorry! Come here."

The evil scientist pulled Dana in for a hug, holding her tightly to her shoulder.

"Have you been taking that medicine?"

"No, I don't like it. I'd rather just spend time with you."

"Dana, you need to take your medicine."

"I don't wanna."

"Ahem!" Thomas interrupted their moment. "Sorry to break the moment, but can you please just send me away? I've been humiliated today, I'd like to go now."

"Fine, fine!" Maggie replied, "But I'm riding with you! That's alright, right Dana?"

"I suppose that's fine, we'll be down there in a few days anyway," Dana answered her.

"Wonderful," Thomas sighed as he rolled his eyes.

"Come on then, we'll take you to the pod."

As the group returned to the escape pod room, Maggie glared at Milly, mouthing the word "bitch" to her. Mimi nodded, causing her girlfriend to look down in sadness. The contestants watched as the chained up Thomas was forced into his spacesuit with Maggie putting on her own, a flashy lemon lime suit. They entered the pod together after Dana hugged Maggie again, and were sent away from the station. The group stood around awkwardly, hearing footsteps coming towards the room, which reminded Dana of something.

"Oh, I forgot!" Dana exclaimed, grabbing everyone's attention. "One of you won the challenge! I'm sure you'll know who you are when your person comes through the door."

As the footsteps got close, an intense looking girl with black hair, some blue in the front. Archie's eyes widened as he looked back at Belladonna, who flashed him a thumbs up as Jianne ran up to him and hugged him.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" she asked him.

"Too long," he replied.

The room choraled with "aw"s as the two embraced.

"Jianne will be here until next morning, when we leave," Dana continued, "Tomorrow can't come soon enough, though. Chris is still bitter about the time I ordered Maggie to tase him, Chef barely convinced him to let us be here today."

As the group was about to disperse, Flint felt the need to add something to the atmosphere.

"So, did y'all know that Thomas is an assassin?" he asked.

"Haha, that's very- what?" Dana's face grew concerned, "You're joking, right?"

"No, me and Alexis spent the whole day fighting him off downstairs. He totally kicked my ass."

"Come on, Flint," Anne let out an awkward chuckle, "That's not even a good joke."

"Oh, he's not joking," added Brittany. "I watched the whole thing through the pencil camera, I guess Thomas stuffed it in his pocket."

"The pencil had a camera?" Flint asked, somewhat bewildered.

"S-so...Maggie is in an escape pod with a murderer right now?" Dana nervously asked.

"Yeah, guess so."

Dana suddenly let out a quaking screech, which hurt everyone's ears until Milly grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Dana!" Milly shouted over her screaming, "Calm down! She will be fine, Maggie is very tough. She would never let some assassin do anything bad to her...though she may be doing some bad things to him."

"Y-you sure?" Dana sobbed.

"I promise."

"Aw, that's sweet, Milly!" Mimi said, "Back to one week!"

"I think we are underreacting to this," Gretchen butted in, her face full of fear, "Flint almost died!"

"Nah, I whooped his butt," Flint boasted.

"No, you got your butt whooped," Brittany added.

"Shuddup!"

"So...what do we do about that now?" asked Jianne.

"Well," Chef went on, "They're headed to the resort right now...so...I don't know."

The room was in an awkward silence as they all thought about what may happen when Thomas landed.

Author Notes:

*A whopping double elimination for what is by far the most intense episode I have ever done. There was so much going on in this episode, and its hard to really go through it all. I hope I portrayed Thomas well through his descent and fall, and Alexis and Flint just made so much sense to be the ones to take him down. Also, Maggie's totally perving on him, lol.

*Thanks to BigBadBrad for letting me use Brittany for this episode, as well as BadLuckAE for letting me use Mimi.

*Episode two has been updated, so if you go back you'll see it has been changed!

*Placements: 22nd - Taylor; 21st - Nicolás; 20th - Vicente; 19th - Haley; 18th - Crustacean; 17th - Sebastian; 16th - Damien; 15th - Benjamin; 14th - Jianne; 13th - Dusty; 12th/11th - Luna and Liz; 10th - Natt; 9th - Alex; 8th/7th - Alexis and Thomas

Review Responses:

Alexneushoorn - I'm glad you liked how Alex placed and how he handled dealing with an actual assassin. He was great to have along for this ginormous arc!

Candela Monsoon - If you wanted to give Anne a hug last episode, I wonder who deserves one now? Maybe Flint, I guess.

MatiasND - Nope, neither of them. I have a really hard time portraying characters that already exist, that's why Chris and Chef are the only ones that appear in these stories.

In the Pod...

"It's finally over," Alexis said with a sigh, "I can't believe it."

She watched the stars in the distance as she floated through space, noting that another pod had just been fired from the station.

"Oh...that's probably Thomas. They're sending him towards where I'm going. Huh. I would've thought jail for sure. Wait...he's going to where I'm going...oh no..."

In the Pod...

"Oh, Thomas," Maggie cuddled up to him closely as they drifted through space, "I'm so glad I finally get to see you."

"You're very...interesting, miss," Thomas mumbled.

"That's sweet of you to say!"

"Really? I didn't really compliment you, I just said-"

"You said I'm interesting! Most people just say I need to be locked up!"

"Uh...well...you are kinda crazy."

"Kuku, thank you!"

"I still am not sure why you're going on about 'loving' me, though. I could kill you at any moment."

"Oh, you won't."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Your business may very well fire you tonight for failing. I'm here to ensure two things. One, no one will harm you or try to kill you for knowing too much. And two, you will have more work."

"How can you guarantee either of those?"

"Don't you worry, my beloved. Don't you worry a bit."