Carl, Jamie, and the two ladies stood in the silent elevator when suddenly, Carl got into a coughing fit. He covered his coughs with his hand. His coughing got so bad that he started to stagger. His sister immediately helped him stand. The ladies just stood in place and stared, smiling slightly. When Carl eventually stopped coughing, he moved his hand away from his mouth and saw small splatters of blood on his palm.

The lady without the beauty mark said "Try not to die, okay?"

The elevator door dinged open. Carl still felt weak. He could barely stand. Jamie had to keep holding him up. She and Carl slowly walked out of the elevator followed by the women. They walked into a sort of hair salon-looking room with black walls and a black and white checkered tile floor. There was a row of salon chairs and stations on both sides of the room. Instead of brushes, hair dryers, and spray bottles, there seemed to be varying colors of fluids and powders in bottles of many shapes and sizes. Each station seemed to be ran by a man or woman dressed in red and black barber uniform. Some of them were holding and staring at the screens of the same device the lady at the front desk had.

Beauty Mark Woman said "You two can just set yourselves in any chair you like. Forgive the messes. We didn't know you two were going to make it."

Jamie helped Carl to the nearest chair before taking a seat in the one next to it. A man worked in the station he sat in. He was tapping the screen of a rectangular thing.

Carl asked the man "What is that?"

The man replied "Huh?"

He asked again "The thing you're holding? What is it?"

The guy just said to him "You'll know in a year or two if you live, okay?"

Carl mentally added it to the list of things Calypso-related that go unexplained.

The guy then said "Okay, now, hold still. Don't breathe in any of this stuff unless I say so. Got it?"

Carl nodded.

The guy then said "Okay, hold your breath," grabbed a bottle of powder, shook it, opened it, poured a handful into his palm, then threw it on Carl's face. A significant amount of whatever it was got into his eyes, making his eyes burn and his nose itch.

Carl asked "What..." he sneezed "even is this this stuff?"

The guy said aggressively "Don't breathe it in, okay? Just keep your mouth shut."

Carl obliged. Suddenly, his vision became blurry and the colors seemed to distort slightly. He immediately felt drowsy. The guy snapped snapped his fingers and waved his hand in front of Carl's face. The guy was probably saying something, but Carl couldn't hear anything right. The guy seemed to sigh, then shrug as he grabbed another bottle. Carl blacked out.

Meanwhile, Jamie was a bit more lucky. She managed to not breathe in the powder, unlike her older sibling. The woman who worked her station began applying creams to her body without removing her clothes. Her clothes magically cleaned and repaired themselves before her eye. Her wounds also closed up. Dirt and bruises disappeared from her skin completely. In only a matter of minutes, she was completely healed. It was like she was never injured at all.

Her brother had also been fully fixed up, though he was still out cold. The man who was healing him was trying to get him to come to by not so gently slapping him on the face. Suddenly, the elevator that had taken them down there opened, revealing the snarky grin of none other than Calypso accompanied by Charlie. As soon as he walked in, he glanced at the guy trying to revive Carl at that point, Carl's cheek had turned tomato red with how many times he had slapped it.

Calypso called out "David, that's enough. I know just the thing to wake him up."

Calypso casually walked up to Carl, then licked his pinkie finger and stuck it into Carl's ear and wiggled it around for a moment. Carl immediately shot up out of his seat and let a small, startled shout.

Now standing, he turned to Calypso and asked "Did you just give me a swirly?"

Calypso replied "Just like the ones those school friends of yours gave you."

Part of Carl wanted to know how Calypso knew how he got bullied in school, but the rest of him knew what kind of response he'd give. /Is this man some kind of psychic, or just really good at guessing?/ he thought.

Like a school teacher guiding students in a field trip, Calypso said "Let's carry on! No more sitting around."

With that, Carl and Jamie followed him into the elevator. The elevator closed behind them, leaving the two with Calypso and Charlie. Calypso stood at the front of the elevator, his back turned to everyone else. Carl felt as though Calypso was tormenting him. All of him wanted nothing more than to try ending the crazed spell caster and with him Twisted Metal once and for all. But he also knew that Calypso would be ready for anything Carl could throw at him and likely either kill him instantly or, more likely, condemn him to some cruel, torturous fate for the rest of eternity.

After what felt like forever of just standing dead silent in a silent elevator, it finally dinged and opened again, revealing a massive garage filled with cars and trucks of all kinds and colors neatly organized into rows that seemed to last for miles. Calypso walked out first, followed by Charlie, then the sibling cops. After they all left, the elevator closed again, leaving behind only bare wall.

Calypso told the group "Come. I know just the right car to suit your needs."

The three followed him. Carl and Jamie decided to glance at the cars as they walked alongside their enemy. They could see all kinds of models and brands. Fords, Chevys, Volkswagens, Hyundais, and many others. They also saw logos and names for brands they'd never seen or heard of. This made them both wonder just how far Calypso's contest reached. Upon further inspection, they saw that all the vehicles looked like they were fresh from the factory. Their paint jobs were nice and sparkly. They couldn't see a single scratch, bit of rust, or even a patch of dust on any of the cars in the garage. Even older cars from the 70's were practically brand new in terms of just how clean they were.

Carl asked Calypso "Where did you get all of these cars, anyways?"

Calypso replied "Whenever a contestant meets an unfortunate demise, and I see it worthy to, I keep their car here. Give it a bit of spit and polish and loan it off to drivers in need such as yourselves. Legally, I own all cars that enter Twisted Metal thanks to the mandatory contract."

Jamie butted in "Wait a minute. Contract? What contract?"

It was at this moment that Carl had a confession to make to his sister. "Jamie. I might have been made to sign a contract to enter this. It's also possible that I forged your signature to get you in this as well."

Jamie was immediately furious at her brother. "You didn't even bother telling me about this contract? You just signed it as me and hoped that I'd never know!"

Carl could feel Calypso's shit-eating grin from behind his dark hair. He snapped back at Jamie "I knew you wouldn't sign it if you knew about it!"

The two quickly got into an argument. Calypso simply said to himself "Sibling squabbling."

The two argued as they continued to follow Calypso until he finally said "That's enough! This way."

He turned right down a row of cars, as did they. After passing a few cars, Calypso stopped at an armored black and white SUV. The brand was one they hadn't heard of before; Summit. The bottom section and back windows were covered in thick metal plates. The grill had metal bars over it. The plates on the back had slits to allow anyone in the back to see through. The top was lined with circular barbed wire. At first glance, Jamie thought a pair of red eyes peered at them through one of the back windows. When she took another glacé, the eyes were gone.

Calypso said with his devious smirk plastered on his face like always "I hope you like it." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to Carl. "Now go on in and try it out."

The two stayed vigilant as they approached the SUV. They first carefully looked at it from top to bottom for any hidden bombs and such. They even looked in the engine and the trunk. There seemed to be nothing funny from the outside. Calypso seemed to be holding back an even bigger grin. Keeping their guard up, they entered the SUV. Carl took the driver's seat, and Jamie entered the passenger's side. Carl checked the rear view as Jamie through the glove compartment. As they were searching, Jamie heard the shift of a body coming from the back seat. She looked back and caught a quick glimpse of a decrepit, pale man about to bite into her brother's neck.

She shouted "Carl! Behind you!"

Carl immediately looked back, saw the man, and instinctively slammed his head onto the seat. The man's teeth dug deep into the leather. Jamie pulled out her gun, brought it to his temple, and blasted his brains out of his skull. The rest of his body went limp. They both stared at his corpse, heavily breathing after the adrenaline rush had passed. They left the car and saw Calypso and Charlie laughing like what they did was part of a comedy sketch.

Angrily, Carl asked Calypso "You mind telling us what your friend was doing in there?"

After calming himself, he replied with another question "Did I forget to tell you about the vampire in the back seat? I apologize."

Carl asked, too angry to question the existence of a mythical creature, "What's a vampire doing in the backseat of an SUV?"

Calypso simply gave a shrug accompanied by a smile that suggested that he did know, but didn't want to tell to boost his own amusement. Carl just sighed and rolled his eyes. Jamie dragged the vampire's body out of the SUV and threw it on the ground.

The malicious mage asked her "You can't just throw bodies like that. It's rude."

Jamie gave a look that asked "Are you serious?"

Calypso ignored her. He continued "Well, now that he's been taken care of, go on and take it. I'll guide you to the garage door."

They both entered in the same seats as before, keeping themselves ready for any more of Calypso's "surprises". As Carl started the car, Calypso opened the door to the back seat.

"Allow me to slide myself in the middle here," he said casually. Charlie sat next to him and closed the door. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around each of the front seats to ensure that they'd see him.

They tried their best to not look at him directly as Carl started the car. As he began to drive out of the spot, he cathartically ran over the vampire's body. Calypso directed them down the maze of cars that was his garage. The more cars they passed, the more they wondered about where all the past contestants, the age of the contest, and Calypso in general. They had to have passed by at least a hundred cars before finally finding the garage's exit.

"Charlie," Calypso said, "Please set it to the next tournament."

Charlie exited the car and approached a device that looked like a typical garage door keypad on the side of the door and typed in a number combination. Then, the door slowly opened, revealing a green, swirling portal. Carl hesitated for a moment before slowly driving through.

Before the car entered, Calypso called out from the car "Charlie! Keep everyone else out of trouble for me, please?"