Waves crash along the shores, a deeper blue than the vast expanse of the sky. Within that deep blue abyss, a darkness awaits in the lair of the Black Goat that Mantroid spoke of.
This seems to be the spot , Victoria notes as she sees the wooden sign with the words "Wet-Dry World" inscribed upon it.
She'll be heading there soon, but not until she gets Max's signal. Until then, she's gonna live in the moment, lying on the warm sand with Jessica by her side, sitting pretty on a comfy-looking lounge chair with a cold drink in her hand.
This is it. We beat her, we all go home… right? Victoria takes a handful of sand and lets the grains slowly spill out of her grasp. "I'd be lying if I said I'm not gonna miss this place."
Jessica hums in agreement. Despite how weird everything's been, she's glad she at least got this chance to work with Victoria in such emotional circumstances. It feels like it's been years since she's last seen Victoria this happy, like the Storm never hit. It feels like this moment could last forever.
But of course, it can't. The radio by her side begins chiming in with beeps and boops, and Max's voice comes over it: "Victoria. It's time."
As the music resumes, Victoria rises from her chair and tells Jessica, "I'm going in." Quickly, she begins equipping herself with the proper diving gear: an oxygen tank, a diving mask, a small radio, a pair of oversized flippers, and a harpoon gun.
"Are you sure I shouldn't go with you?"
"We wouldn't want to beat this Black Goat too quickly, right?" Jessica rolls her eyes, trying not to laugh, as Victoria continues, "But I think we can handle this 'Other Max'. I appreciate your concern. Thanks."
Jessica stands up and gifts Victoria a peck on the cheek, telling her, "Stay safe down there. And good luck."
And so, Victoria marches into the water, splashing as she disappears beneath the waves.
There is only blue in the deep distance down below. In that void, the Black Goat awaits.
Victoria lets herself sink, following the bubbles as they rise from below. She's scared of what awaits her, but she's also ready to cross that bridge. At least she'll have Max to help her, so how bad can it really be?
As she plummets deeper, she starts seeing white square buildings of ancient design, lying abandoned amidst the darkness below. It is illuminated brightly, as if it were on the surface, but it looks empty too.
Carefully, Victoria makes her landing on a dome surrounding the town. She seeks a way inside and finds it in the form of a kite-shaped hatch, decorated in the colors of the rainbow. "Down we go.", she tells herself as she opens the hatch and climbs down a long, long ladder.
The lower she goes, the colder she feels; not in temperature - it feels reasonably warm in here - but in anxiety, like a chill has run through her nerves, snaking its way to her brain. She shakes it off, thinking nothing of it as she continues the descent.
Upon finishing the climb, she sets foot in the town with a splash. Must've been a flood , considering that there's no one responding to the noise besides herself. Who lived here?
As she walks forward, keeping her attention set on the corners in her sight, she can feel someone else's presence in the town - the Black Goat, no doubt - and she knows that they're watching her.
This is only confirmed when a genuine chuckle, like someone's just heard a funny joke, echoes through the drowned town. Victoria quickly arms herself with the harpoon gun, though she doesn't aim it just yet. It's her, she's here… Slowly, Victoria backs up against a wall, unfortunately out in the open.
"How did you get this far?", asks a husky feminine voice - the source of the chuckle - as it echoes around the area.
Looking around nervously, Victoria remarks, "I kicked your friends' asses, and one of them told me how to find you." Something's not right , Victoria ponders, questioning the tone of the supposed Black Goat. For a "Mistress of Nightmares", she doesn't have that… royalty in her tone. She does sound familiar…
"I assure you, Victoria, I'm not going to go easy on you, not like last time. No Max to save you, no Jessica to care for you…" The mysterious villainess starts giggling to herself before resuming, "No Dark Room to shelter you from my wrath."
Whatever she's implying, Victoria doesn't like it. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm a goddess, Victoria… No. I'm better." Upon saying that, the Other Max emerges from the church in the center of town, her darkened antlers pulsating with malevolent energies in search of Victoria.
Jessica naps with a smile on her face, content in the knowledge that her daughter family friend is going to save the world. Mr. and Mrs. Chase would be proud of her, just as much as she is.
Suddenly, she's awoken by a tap on her shoulder. Looking up, she sees Max standing behind her with her entourage of heroes in tow. "Where's Victoria?"
Jessica looks around, confused, and tells her, "She said you called her."
"I didn't call her." But Max has a good idea who did, and that knowledge terrifies her. "We need to get down there now!"
Alex pulls out her radio and declares, "I'm on it!", before tuning the radio and creating a triangular portal with its signal.
Slinking around sharp corners, Victoria aims her gun at the echoing taunts stalking her.
The Other Max laughs in amusement - she keeps on laughing, dammit! - while steadily approaching closer and closer. "I didn't think you'd missed me so much."
"'Miss you'? I've never met you!"
"Is that so?" The laugh goes on, travelling around the town before flying at Victoria's face. She blinks, reopening her eyes to see an old rival pacing forward. Her black antlers shrinking into her skull, the rival's appearance becomes clearer: red plaid shirt, black torn jeans, long blonde hair with a blue feather earring. "Do you recognize me now?"
It can't be… "Rachel?" Without thinking, Victoria aims the harpoon gun at Amber's apparent apparition.
Rachel snickers, bemused by Victoria's thoughts. "I take it you're gonna try to kill me?" Slowly, Victoria lowers the gun, confused. "It doesn't matter. I've already won." Without warning, she grabs the harpoon gun out of her hands and breaks it over her knee. "Whoops. Sorry."
Victoria can't move. Her muscles are frozen but her mind isn't. Enraged, she curses at Rachel, though her jaws won't open to let her speak. What is she doing here , Victoria ponders.
"Tying up loose ends. Don't worry, you're at the top of my list."
She heard me?
Rachel nods her head slowly. "Crazy that it's taken me this long to take you out! Seven years ago, the deed should've been done… Crazy to think how the Dark Room killed me but saved you. I got close though. Your parents say 'hi'."
What does she mean by that? Oh, God…
A wide grin forms on Rachel's face, sensing the feelings of Victoria's realization. "That's right, Vicky! You're looking into the eyes of the Storm."
That bitch! I'll kill you! Do you hear me?!
Rachel answers with a snicker, "Loud and clear."
Without an ounce of control in her bones, Victoria raises her fist and it collides with her own cheek, knocking herself out.
Her eyes close for but a brief second before reopening, blank and glowing blood red. The Sunken is in control, all according to Rachel's sinister design. "You know what's coming and what to do, correct?" The Sunken nod Victoria's head and slowly rise to their feet. "Perfect!"
A few seconds pass until the heroes make their explosive entry through a triangular portal on an outer wall. Chloe aims her pistol at Rachel and shouts, "Freeze!"
"Right on cue…" Rachel chuckles before turning to Max, a sinister grin on her face: "How good of you to come-"
"Rachel?!", Chloe shouts, shocked at the reappearance of her old friend.
Rachel takes a brief moment to look down at her clothes; to her surprise, she's still looking as she naturally did. "Dammit, my disguise!" In a fit of rage, her antlers grow and wiggle about, with one wrapping around Victoria's neck and lifting her up into the air.
"Put Victoria down!"
"No." The other antler begins wiggling around the town, transforming into sharp knives and attacking the heroes at hand.
In the midst of the chaos, Max gets overwhelmed and pulled over to Rachel's side almost immediately. "Maaaaaxiiiiine, we need to talk!" The antler worms its way around Max before piercing into her head just as it pierces into Victoria's. "You, me, Vicky, that's three! Time for some bonding…"
The antler-tentacles work their way around Max and Victoria's brains, maneuvering through memories and connecting one to another through Rachel's head. "How does the truth feel, Vic?", she says as Victoria clutches her forehead with both hands in agony.
Max looks over and yells at Rachel, "Stop this! You're hurting her!"
Rachel lets out a sinister cackle, which grows deeper by the second. "She won't feel a thing! Well, not yet anyways."
Max knows what she must do if she has to stop any more memories from leaking, so she grabs a gun and shoots herself in the head.
Rachel can only roll her eyes as she softly releases the corpse, but it is too late for Victoria as she has seen more than enough of Max's memories: "Go ahead, kill yourself, I've proved my point!" She then lets go of Victoria, letting her fall to the floor hard. After that, her antlers retreat back into her own head and she vanishes in a whirlwind.
"Victoria, what happened?" She lies still on the floor, breathing steadily but not responding. Chloe runs to her side and shakes her a bunch, hoping she'll wake up. "Victoria? C'mon, get up!" The heroes surround her, looking on in fear.
Still, Victoria lays there, defeated, glowing red eyes wide open. A prisoner to the demons in her head. The Sunken smirk for her at the outside world, joyful for Victoria's presence in their clutches.