Illusion is Reality
-Chapter 186
It took me a while to calm down, I was mortified, but finally, I got Ford to drop the subject of whatever hentai I might be doing with my prisoners ("I told you it's not hentai! Y-yes he's turned on but that's not– uuuughhhh!") and I held up my com to the men so Ford could talk to them.
[Hello, can you hear me?]
"Your pet here is dangerous. For the safety of Earth, hand it over to us."
[William is NOT my pet!]
I just sat back in midair, floating my Com so they could talk. Ford didn't seem to realize just what kind of organization this was. They were literally just… like this. I wasn't even mad, just tired. Ugh. Could I kill them? Should I kill them? I don't know. I just want them to not be my problem anymore!
[Just leave William alone. They're not a threat to Earth so long as no one messes with them!]
"So you admit that it is a threat." I hated how smug they sounded. I nearly shoved the tentacle back in his mouth for that.
[William isn't just an alien, they're a literal cosmic GOD, if they wanted to take over the Earth, they already would have!]
"Too much trouble. I hate being in charge of things. Too stressful. I can barely handle myself." I muttered.
"T-that's…" The men paled, looking horrified.
I groaned. "Fucking… I don't care! Okay?! Get that through your fucking skulls! I don't care. I just want to hang out and have fun. I want to watch anime! Listen to music! If you really don't want me to be a 'threat' to your goddamn planet, then don't do things that would impede the creation of good entertainment for me!"
[William, I don't think that's a good way of putting that.]
Ugh. Well… at least Xin's hike through the woods with the kids was going better than this. The kids were shown various plants and animals as Xin taught them what they were, how to identify them, whether they were good for petting or eating or if they shouldn't touch them. That was a much nicer activity than sitting here, listening to people talk about you as if you weren't an intelligent creature. I paid more attention to that than the frustrated argument happening right here as Ford tried, and failed, to convince these guys that I wasn't a threat to the Earth.
Ehhh I mean… I AM a threat. I could easily destroy the planet, or take over the world if I actually wanted to. I just didn't want to. But of course they don't believe or trust that. The fact that I'm capable of doing something is just as bad as if I actually do the thing. I know that now. And it sucked. It was so unfair! Nothing I can do about it though. Just another unfair thing in the world I have to accept.
Of course, the fact that I survived a gunshot to the chest and then restrained them with tentacles was making them believe I was hostile. But they shot me first! And I suppose sneaking up behind them and taking one of their guns away could be seen as a hostile thing too– but they were spying on me! Uuuugh! Is the only way for me to get people to realize I'm not a threat just… what? Laying down and putting myself in a vulnerable position without fighting back? Is that what it'll take?! Am I supposed to just roll over and let people walk all over me?! Is that what it'll take for people to just leave me the fuck alone?!
[William, I can hear you growling from here. If you're angry, take a break and go somewhere very far away to work it out.]
"I'm not angry!" I snapped.
[William, please.]
"Uuuuugghhhh FINE!" I left the Com floating there, put a shield around everyone so the ECU agents wouldn't get eaten by the forest creatures, and Blinked away to the edges of the Milky Way.
I floated out there among the stars and screamed. I burned and burned and screeched into the vacuum of space until I got too tired to do so. I think I have a headache now. Fucking sucks.
Back on Earth, I, as Xin, twitched. Yeah, better to let that out.
"So as I was saying, this plant here is a Pineappleweed. They're native to Asia, but some of them came over to America years ago and spread all across it. It is also sometimes called Wild Chamomile." I explained to the children as I showed them one of my favorite plants. "The yellow bulb here has a sweet smell and can also be eaten, though it's a little bitter. It's good for making tea though." Of course, this particular plant wasn't supposed to be growing during this time, but Gravity Falls is a strange place. Many plants and flowers bloom out of season here. And don't even get me started on the animals I find here. Speaking of…
"Alas! What are all these children doing here?" A very high falsetto spoke up.
Unicorns… uhhhh…
Yeah, we've made our way into the more magical parts of the forest.
I turned and lifted a hand to wave hello, no sense being rude. "Hi, I'm taking my and my friend's kids on a hike through the woods to teach them about the plants, animals and people here."
I heard the children gasp as they stared at the unicorn. Time to nip this in the bud.
"Kids, this is a unicorn. What's your name ma'am?" I asked politely. Hey, I would prefer to be on good terms with these guys. Also, they mostly already knew me from that other time I met them, though I don't know their names.
"I am Elizabethabellethabeth." She gave an elegant toss of her head, making her bright green and teal mane glimmer in the sunlight. "I haven't seen you in a very long time, Sir Dragon."
"Yeah, I've been busy."
"Indeed. We've all seen and felt those Islands you've created."
"Ah, are… they bothering you all?" I just realized I should probably have asked before creating my own subspaces around here. But I made sure to pick an area that wasn't in anyone's territory–
"Oh not at all Sir Dragon. Being able to feel your magic is quite comforting really. Though… we have realized your Islands use a similar magic to our Glades."
"Yeah I kind of got the idea from you guys. Hidden subspace areas need anchors to mark them after all, and your Glades are crafted so well, I had to use a version of them myself." I rubbed my arm. It wasn't plagiarizing, surely not. I changed it, so it wasn't like I was fully copying them.
"It's quite brilliant, we've actually been wanting to talk with you for a while, to ask about improving our own areas with even a fraction of the security you've made for your– Hey! Hands off!" Elizabethabellethabeth snorted, moving out of the way of Acedia attempting to pat her leg.
"Acedia, it's rude to touch someone without asking first." I told her gently. "Apologize."
Acedia pouted, but she turned to the unicorn and said, "Sowwie miss unicorn."
"Apology heard but not accepted. Harumph. What sort of creature are you?"
"She's my daughter."
"Not a dragon, no, that one there is. But the rest of these? No. Nothing dragon-like about them."
"Well, it's complicated. Uh…" I moved my hand to gesture to the kids. "These ones here are half human and half Diva. Gula here is a dragon half. Sabrina and Maria over there are fully human. Well, almost entirely human. I'm pretty sure Soos has some alien ancestry far down the line."
"Deva? They do feel magical… even if it's tainted by human…"
"They're not tainted by anything." I narrowed my eyes. "Do not insult my children." Humanity wasn't bad or a taint. Screw you! Sure, the small percentage of bad humans controlled most of the power and therefore they seem to be the majority, but most humans weren't terrible.
The unicorn (I'm just gonna call her Liz or something. Elizabethabellethabeth is too hard to say) took a step back and bowed her head, "Of course Sir Dragon, I meant no offense. But they are part human, are they not?"
"My partner is human. I happen to like him a lot." I narrowed my eyes. "Is that a problem?"
"Well, I don't understand your tastes, Sir Dragon. Humans are…" she paused and I could see her reworking her intended words to be less offensive. "...smelly." she finally said. It startled a laugh out of me.
"Yeah fair, humans are smelly. But frankly, I just make my human wash himself more often. He smells much nicer now."
Maria sniffed herself. "I'm not smelly." She complained.
"You're not smelly because you take baths." I told her gently.
"Ava's smelly." Ira pointed out, getting a smack from her brother for it. I quickly separated the two. "Don't call each other smelly unless they're actually smelly and need a bath. Like daddy."
The children giggled. "Daddy's smelly!"
"Yes he is. That's why he has to take a bath as soon as he gets home from work." I was just glad to have cut through that fight before it began.
Elizabethabellethabeth rolled her eyes, "Well, back to the matter at hand, we were hoping to make a Deal with you, Sir Dragon."
I crushed down the spike of excitement I felt at those words. "A Deal you say?"
"A trade, as it were. Your human wanted our hair, and last time we traded yours for ours. This time, we wish to learn the magicks to protect our Glade much like those we have sensed around your Islands. What would you want in exchange? Our hair? Our gold?"
Huh, well… "I don't have much use for gold. But sure, I could go for more hair. Always useful to have around for emergencies." I thought about it. Unicorns might not have very impressive magic on their own, but their hair contained their magic, and it was specifically good for Warding and Protection spells. There's a misconception that Unicorns could Heal, but that's only a specific species of European Unicorn. Most of them just play music and glow, which is frankly very cool in my opinion, but that's just me. Also, their ability to point to the nearest rainbow is used for finding Leprechaun gold and other treasures. It's how they're so rich.
Heck, Unicorns lined their Glades with their hair to keep out people most of the time.
I thought their Glades were secured enough, but they didn't have any settings to forcibly expel anyone or ban specific people, so perhaps that might be something they're after? I asked, and she confirmed that that was precisely what she was after.
"Any druid can just chant the password and come in. That was a bad decision on our part. But at the time, the Druids were our friends. Never expected one to bring her humans in with her."
"I doubt Grenda even knows what her family are." I drawled. "They've married with humans for so long they don't even have their shifting powers anymore."
"Regardless, we would like for you to teach us how to add a 'Get the heck out' spell."
"Alright, in exchange for some of your hair… hmmm. Around enough hair for the strands to lie, single file, around the borders of your Glade. And in exchange, I teach you how to forcibly expel people from your Glade."
She seemed to hesitate at the thought of how much hair that would be, but ultimately she nodded. "Alright, Deal."
I felt my hand burn. I shuddered, trying to hold in the very embarrassing noise I almost made when I shook hands (hoof?) with her and I felt the Deal go through. Oooooh~ tingly~
"Alright kids, detour. I'm gonna need to do a job real quick. Will you all be ok just sitting quietly for a few minutes?"
Elizabethabellethabeth tilted her head, observing my children (along with Sabrina and Maria). "They may accompany you into our Glade while you work, but you will have to keep them in line."
"Alright kids, we will be guests in her home. And as such, you must all be on good behavior. It would be rude to our hosts if we aren't." I told everyone. I was looking at no one in particular, but I saw them glance at Avaritia with frowns. Hey now, don't go singling him out! That'll only make things worse! "Don't touch or eat anything without asking the unicorns for permission first. Got it?" They nodded.
So we followed Elizabethabellethabeth as she opened the Glade to let us in. The unicorns didn't need the Druid chant, it was their Glade after all. The children gasped at the beautiful shimmering around them. Acedia looked like she was gonna faint. Heh, she reminded me of Mabel, with how much she liked Unicorns and other horses. Oh no, was Acedia gonna be a horse girl when she grew up? I mean, it wasn't a problem. But I don't want to get her a pet horse, the upkeep would be so much trouble–
We all took our shoes off before going inside. I had socks on, so the grass didn't bother me as much. And yes, wet socks are terrible so I Cursed our socks to remain dry.
"Tir'd…" I heard Sabrina whine. I turned and bent down to pick her up. "Yeah, you've all been hiking for a while." I materialized some water bottles to hand out as I got the kids situated on some rocks to rest. "Ok, you all rest here while I go do my job." I told everyone else. They gave me a chorus of "Okay." "'Kay." And such.
I stroked Sabrina's back, poor girl was so sleepy. "Alright, you guys have a leader I could talk to or is this a group project thing?"
"I will call the others here." She reared up and neighed loudly. I covered Sabrina's ears so she wouldn't get woken up. A herd of Unicorns– er… a Blessing of Unicorns, gathered around me. I started explaining how to rework their spellwork to be able to harmlessly expel unwanted guests from their Glade. Wasn't too difficult, just point at, or focus on them, revoke their 'welcome' and they would be floated/flung outside. I added that they would be bubbled as well, so they couldn't attack anyone on their way out. The bubble would pop and release them once they were outside and the Glade was closed to them. There were even various severities on the ban to prevent those offenders from being able to get back in, for a certain amount of time. They didn't fully understand the technicalities, but I walked them through the spells needed. And I shivered when I felt Elizabethabellethabeth's magic ripple out. Even I was capable of being thrown out if she chose so. It wouldn't be fair otherwise, if I made myself an exception.
"Alright everypony, that's my end of the Deal. Now hold to yours." Doing my Deals manually meant I had to wait for them to pay me, as opposed to just taking what I was owed. Manual Deals worked so differently from the automated ones, but like I've stated before, I can't trust my powers to automate this shit anymore. The issue with manual is that…
"You're the one who made the Deal, so you should pay his price alone."
"I can't do that! I'll go bald!"
"Well its not fair we have to help you pay it when you made the Deal without consulting us about the price!"
"You are all benefiting from the Deal, so you should all be helping to pay it! If we all contribute a couple hairs, that'll be enough to pay it off without issue! It's either a lock of hair from all of us, or ALL of my hair, seriously guys!"
"But we never agreed to give up our hair."
"ITS. JUST. A. COUPLE. STRANDS. YOU SELFISH–"
I sighed as they began arguing. Stubborn bitches, the lot of them. Prideful, selfish and annoying. I felt my powers stir, I have completed my end of the Deal, I require payment. I could feel my irritation rising as I continued to NOT be paid for my work. I grimaced, digging my fingers and nails into my arm, trying very hard to stay calm. I need to stay calm, even as the arguing got stupider and more obnoxious. I dug my claws in and focused on simply destroying any blood that leaked out. It's… fine. I will get paid in the end. I will. I must.
If they don't pay me, it'll be within my rights to burn their Glade to the ground.
I shook my head. No. Stop that. We don't do that anymore. Besides, they made a fair argument. Liz DID make the Deal while intending to have her fellows pay the price without consulting them first, promising away their hair without their knowledge or consent. On the other hand, it was only a lock from each of them, which isn't a steep price for what is essentially a group protection spell that they all benefited from. If they all benefit from this Deal, shouldn't they all pay for it? But none of them had agreed to these terms beforehand so their refusal was understandable...
My fault, I shouldn't have been so eager to make the Deal. I should have asked to go to the Glade and spoken with all of them first. But I'm fucking stupid and I hadn't thought of that.
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
M̷̛̦͔̯̤̫͈̦̱̖̬̰͊̌͜y̷͉͈̿͌͒͘͝ ̵̛̙̣͇͕̜͋͊̾̓̆̓̚f̵̪̰͓̭͖̻͙͈͓̙̦̄̊̐͐̓̈́̆̏́̉͘̕͜ͅå̷̳̪͕͔̫̳̼̤͖͙͆̈̔͘̕͜ų̴̣̜̘̼̳̯̟̝͍̪̗̬̀̀͆͌̈̓̏l̵̨͙̩̗̻̩͚̪̙̑̔̔̈́͑̽̔̊͊̂̎̚͜t̴̡̫̟̜̹̿͛̎̓̂̒͜
Sabrina whined, fussing and whimpering in my arms. I shuddered. Was I holding her too tight? No, I adjusted my hold on her, I wasn't hurting her, right? Oh void, please tell me I wasn't hurting her, Melody would never forgive me–
No, she's unharmed but I think she's stressed from all the arguing. You and me both kid. I walked away, trying to hide the trembling rage coursing through me as I continued to be denied what I was rightfully owed.
The children had wandered off to play around the Glade. Understandable, it was lovely here and they weren't being supervised. The only reason I allowed that was because there wasn't anything dangerous here. No predators who might eat them. The pools of water beneath the waterfalls were too shallow for them to drown in. The water magically shifted to prevent such a thing to begin with. The forests were deep, but this area was a magically enclosed Glade, I will find those who've wandered off. And wander off they did. I sighed, seeing only Maria, the twins and Invidia still seated at the rocks where I left them.
"Sorry this is taking so long, here Maria, can you hold your sister while I try to talk to the unicorns so I can get paid for my job?"
Maria nodded, shifting her position so she could properly cradle her baby sister. Good girl. The twins had their eyes closed, probably exhausted from all the walking. I was starting to think I should really get them a wheelchair. They CAN walk, but they probably shouldn't HAVE to do so constantly. It was a lot of weight for their shared legs to carry.
"Are you guys hungry? Need snacks?" I asked to give myself a distraction away from the twisting irritation I felt inside. I don't think I hid my trembling as well as I hoped, because Invidia was giving me a drawn out stare.
"Yes, snacks." He said, turning his head, but not his eyes, which were still locked on me. "A little hungry."
"Got it buddy." I ruffled his hair and straightened back up to cup my hands around my mouth, "HEY KIDS! GET BACK HERE SO WE CAN HAVE SNACK TIME!" I wasn't really yelling so much as projecting my voice to be heard by my children. I waited a few seconds for my message to go through, and could immediately hear the clamor of the hungry horde rushing back.
I counted heads to make sure they were all here, and then materialized a whole picnic spread along with the blanket. They cheered and immediately dug in. There were sandwiches ranging from bologna to chicken salad, to roast beef. There were carrot sticks and various things to dip them in, from ranch to bbq sauce to honey. There was food mush for Sabrina, which Maria and Invidia knew to feed her with. I had some chips and guacamole too. Look, I go all out with it. I even had dessert planned once they ate their lunch. Watching them enjoy my food pushed back the growing irritation. I allowed myself to sink into this content feeling, where the itching didn't bother me, where things felt like they would be ok, where they were all enjoying themselves and I was happy for a moment. At least until the annoying neighing spiked in volume as the unicorns continued arguing.
"Are they still arguin'?"
"Yes they are. They don't want to pay me. It's very annoying." I twitched, trying to hold onto this sense of calm fulfillment from being at a picnic.
I might as well use this opportunity to teach the children a valuable lesson. "That unicorn approached me for a Deal. She agreed to my terms and by rights, I need to be paid. We both agreed to the payment. When you and someone make a deal, you both must hold to it. If you and an employer agree for your work in exchange for their pay, they MUST pay you, and you must do the work you agreed to. This means that you are not required to do work that you didn't agree to, even if your employer asks you to, unless they pay you more for that new work that they are adding onto your original Deal. It also means that if you do your work and they do not pay you for it, they are violating their terms of the Deal."
I know most of this was flying over their heads. So I tried to simplify it for them. If I can't explain something so a child would understand it, then I'm not doing a good job of teaching. It is not the child's job to learn what I teach, it is my job to help them learn. Teachers are paid to teach, and if they can't get a child to understand, that is the fault of the teacher for being bad at their job. That's how I felt. These were the standards I held myself to.
William poked at me mentally, 'Want me to burn something to work out this annoyance we all feel?'
'Yes please.'
William, I, went to find an even more deserted part of the universe to set on fire. "Fuck EVERYTHING!" I screeched.
I gave them time. I gave them their chance to talk it out and come to a solution. I did. I really did. I was working so hard to hold back how upset I was that they weren't fulfilling their end of the Deal. Everything inside was screaming at me to just take what I was owed. I resisted, because I wanted them to just fucking pay me themselves! (Also, I'm sure that tearing out fistfuls of Liz's hair would probably ruin any future dealings with the unicorns.)
But it's been a whole fucking hour of stubbornness and at this point, I was reaching my limit.
I had to send the children home because I could feel myself getting close to losing it and I did NOT want them around to see that.
I teleported the kids back to the Shack, and by that, I mean a foot outside the boundaries of the protection circle around the Shack. I gave them instructions to head back inside, and I kept my Eye open to check that they did so. Once I was sure they were all home and safe, I made my way back to the arguing unicorns and spoke up, "Hey."
They didn't hear me.
"HEY." I said, raising my voice.
A couple noticed me and quieted down, but most of them were still bickering. I clenched my fists.
"HEY!" I roared.
The unicorns jumped, some of them tripping over themselves and falling over into the grass.
"I'm growing impatient." I told them in a level tone. "Figure out how I am to be paid for my due end of the Deal, or I will be forced to take what I'm owed myself." It wasn't a threat. I was simply telling them what was going to happen. One way or another, I've managed to hold back on simply taking it, since this was a manually done Deal, I had enough leeway for that. But I seriously couldn't wait anymore, the itching was driving me crazy.
"B-but–"
"Who and how am I to be paid my due?" I scratched at the itching across my skin. Everything inside me was writhing. "You know the laws of magicks, we have a Deal. You must pay me." Or else I wouldn't be able to spare you. It was taking all I had to even wait this long. Please don't make me have to take it from you.
Elizabethabellethabeth trembled, looking back and forth at the unicorns around her. "Please? I c-can't do this alone…"
But the others remained stubborn. Or perhaps they were just sadistically waiting to see what I did to her. "As you are the one who made the Deal, by default, the price will fall on you, if no one offers to help pay." I told her. I meant to be firm, but I guess I ended up threatening instead, since she cowered even more, looking absolutely terrified.
"Please! I'll do your chores for a month! I'll polish your hooves! I'll stop playing Duststorm at every dance party!"
"Look E-beth, you're the one who got yourself into this mess. This is yours." One of the other unicorns snorted. They all felt it wasn't their problem. Well… there was something important here that I feel like none of them had noticed. Was it idiocy? No, merely a lack of giving a shit.
My Deal was to teach Elizabethabellethabeth how to expel people from the Glade. And I did. She may have gathered them all here, but only she actually learned how to do it. The protection spell currently woven throughout this place was hers and hers alone. The others will find, if they bothered to check, that none of them knew how this spell worked.
But if they offered their hair to me, they would be included into the Deal and would know how it worked as well. Despite listening to my lecture, none of them would be able to recall it. That's simply how this Deal worked.
It seemed none of them realized that yet. Not even Liz herself.
The others seemed almost smug, stubbornly refusing to help their own neighbor. It sickened me to watch. But I couldn't do anything. A Deal's a Deal. And if I didn't get paid, I would have to destroy them. And I didn't want to do that.
Well, I guess… it was time.
I took a step towards Liz. Then another. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry it's come to this." I told her. "I'll try to be gentle."
I tried very hard not to enjoy her screaming. But I'm not that good of a person.
"Well… this appears to be all of it. Exactly enough hairs to line the edges of the whole Glade." I put the brightly colored hairs into a bag. "Thank you for your time."
Elizabethabellethabeth trembled. I tried my best to cut her hair evenly, but I ended up having to take most of her tail off too, just to have enough. The Glade was big. But this was a fair Deal. A protection spell that encompasses the whole Glade in exchange for enough hair to line said Glade. It seemed fair enough. Was it? Either way, I personally think she's not bad looking with short hair, but I could already hear the other unicorns snickering. I held back the urge to bite them.
"Get out."
I could feel the magic swirl around me. I nodded and turned around. "Will do. Bye." I walked calmly to the exit, even as the unicorns around me began to panic as they realized they were all being pushed towards the exit too.
I left the Glade, putting my shoes back on, listening to the other unicorns realize what was happening.
I straightened up, putting the bag of hair away and hearing the unicorns plead for Liz to let them back in. I barely gave the herd, Blessing, a glance before I left.
I did my end of the Deal, I got paid for it, this wasn't my problem anymore.
I, as William, finally Blinked back to Earth. The Deal was tingly through me, and as much as I hated myself for it, I felt kinda good after seeing what happened to the unicorns. Soooo I was in a relatively better mood as I checked back on what Ford and the ECU agents were talking about. Maybe Ford finally talked some sense into them. Not that I had much hope about that.
...they were discussing aliens… specifically, the agents were trying to convince Ford that all aliens were dangerous, and Ford was rebutting with, [Literally anything and anyone can be dangerous in the wrong circumstances!]
"Which is why aliens need to be controlled, contained or killed." Not-horny agent stressed.
"Isn't it so weird that they all have a 'Kkh' sound even though two of them start with a C and one's a K? Why isn't it spelled Cill instead?" Was my contribution to their conversation.
[William!] I felt a flush of warmth at the delighted relief in Ford's tone. [How are you feeling?]
"Better. Though, heads up, in about… 300 years or so, people are gonna discover a new star that appears to have formed spontaneously from nothing."
[...what did you do?]
I shrugged, "I was mad, I went to blow off some steam. There's a new star now, somewhere around 300 lightyears away." I would have gone farther, but that place I found was empty enough.
I took note of the expressions on the ECU agents. Confusion. Realization. Shock. Horror. Arous– "QUIT GETTING HORNY!" I shrieked at the horny one. "Do you have some kinda problem?!"
"It's been a long day. I'm tied up by tentacles." He deadpanned. Ok fair I guess?
His partner was looking annoyed and frustrated, but not surprised. I sighed and addressed him, "Does your partner always get horny when on a job?"
"Not always, but it's pretty common." ("Oh come on!") "I've requested to get a new partner, but no one else wants to switch." ("Wait, what?!") "I think he's got some kind of hormone problem." ("Stop telling it about me!")
"Oi, at least call me a 'them' instead of 'it', if you don't know my pronouns." I filed away the fact that horny-agent might be a monster fucker. Oh great, now I'm worried and grossed out at the thought of what he might have done to any aliens his organization managed to capture.
Should I look it up? I'm almost afraid to.
"So, have you two decided to leave me alone and tell your bosses to leave me alone?"
"Yes." They lied. "So you can let us go now."
[They're lying.]
"Yeah, I know." I rolled my eye. "Well, I'm tired of people being stubborn today." My patience was worn down by the unicorns already. "So I'm just gonna let you go…"
[What?!] Ford choked, [You can't just–]
"...and just dissolve your organization." (""WHAT!"") "Look, I'm tired. Long day. Not enough tentacles." I waved my hands and made my blood tentacles disintegrate into dust. "So like, if your bosses aren't giving you jobs anymore, you'll stop right? Sure. Right."
"What are you planning to do?!" The agents stumbled to their feet, rushing at me. I allowed them to bounce harmlessly off my shields. Really should have my shields up constantly. "We won't let you–"
"Don't worry, I ain't gonna kill anyone. I'm just gonna cause a lot of trouble for you. And if they don't leave me alone, I'll cause more trouble. That's about it." I took my Com back, closed the call, and put it away before waving at the two. "Ok, peace out~" I Blinked away.
I turned the lights out first, plunging their office into darkness. Since they were in an underground bunker type of place, it was quite dark. Even with those emergency lights all around. In fact I think the faint illumination of the emergency lights only made it worse. The place was constructed from mostly concrete and metal, cold and hard. The stairwells echoed as people went up or down. And they had to use the stairs since all the elevators had stopped.
"Fucking stairs." One woman complained, the click of her heels sounding loudly through the darkness. Her phone was held up, the flashlight barely lit up the steps as she climbed. Her coworker chuckled. "Well maybe if you weren't in heels." He joked.
She snapped, "Shut your hole! You don't get it do you? I can't wear sneakers to work! The admins would scold me for being 'unprofessional'." She muttered. "Sexist fucks."
"Well, not sneakers, what about just regular shoes? Or boots?" The guy amended.
"I tried once, they told me it wasn't part of the dress code, despite all the men being allowed boots and shit."
"That… sucks…"
"Ugh. Yeah." She continued climbing the stairs. "Which floor are we on now?"
"Hang on, let me check." The guy moved his own phone flashlight around, searching the walls. He didn't answer as he paused and began climbing to the next turn on the flight and looking at the walls again.
"Jeb?" The woman stopped to rest a bit, rubbing her heel.
"Uuhh hang on…" he ran up another flight, still looking at the walls.
"Seriously, just tell me what floor we're on."
He didn't respond, though his steps and the way his light moved around got faster.
"Jeb, what the hell is your problem?!"
"Door's gone! No signs either!"
"What?"
"The fucking numbers– there's no floor number– there's no fucking doors!" Jeb slapped his hand across the bare walls. Each flight of the stairwell was featureless. No door, no floor number. Nothing but more stairs. She went up to look too, irritated confusion turning to shock as she saw he was right. Denial was clung to in desperation as the two went down a few more flights to find that the door they entered into the stairwell with was gone too.
"This can't be happening. There must be some– this can't be happening…"
"M-maybe if we head to the bottom? There's gotta be a bottom…" The woman shone her flashlight down the stairs, but couldn't see very far. It just circled around and around below them. Their voices echoed, the cold stairwell turning eerily silent when they stopped speaking and the echos died off.
"There's no way this is possible." Jeb gripped his hair. "What do we do Hannah?"
"We… can sit here and wait. I'm… sure someone will notice something's wrong… a-and notice we're missing. And they'll come find us." Hannah tapped her foot, the clicking of her heels adding noise to break that oppressive silence.
Her tapping was rhythmic. So it was very jarring when they both realized there was another set of tapping that wasn't on beat to hers. That wasn't coming from her. Hannah stopped tapping. The two were silent as they listened.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps. Someone climbing the stairs. The sound was from below.
"Hey! Hey! Help! T-the doors are gone! Do you know what's going on?" Jeb called out.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Steady sounds of someone climbing the stairs.
"Excuse me? Hello?" Jeb called, shining his phone down the middle of the stairs, trying to see the levels below them. "Hello?"
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Is someone there?" Jeb called again before Hannah shushed him. "What?"
"I think we should go." Hannah got to her feet from where she'd sat down. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing, she didn't like how that person below them hadn't responded. It didn't sit right with her. She took off her heels, clutching them in her hands. She had socks on, that should be enough.
"Huh?" Jeb asked, not looking away from where he was squinting below them.
Hannah was climbing the stairs, not quite running, but certainly in a hurry. "Jeb, come. Now. Just come."
"Wait, I think I see them. Hey!" Jeb saw movement several flights below. "Hey dude, can you…" He trailed off, eyes going wide. He turned and ran up the stairs, catching up with Hannah. "Ok, yeah. Run." He squeaked.
Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap taptaptaptap–
"RUN!" Jeb yelled. The two sprinted up the stairs, listening to whoever was below them speeding up.
"W-what did you see?!" Hannah gasped, pulling herself up faster using the railings. She dropped one of her shoes, but didn't care to stop and get it back.
"I–" Jeb was also using the railings to pull himself up faster. "I dunno– but– it– it wasn't a person!"
Below them, they heard the tapping stop momentarily, a low growl rumbling out and then the wet crunching sounds of chewing.
Hannah and Jeb continued running up the stairs.
"Is that thing eating your shoe?" Jeb gasped. Hannah panted for air, "Shut up and keep running!" The two continued, hearts in their throats, afraid to look back to get a clear look at… whatever the hell that was.
Elsewhere in the building, a man slapped at his desk in frustration. "Damn black out. My shit better have saved." He stared at his dark computer screen. "How the fuck did we even have a blackout? Shouldn't the generators prevent that?" He complained to himself. He leaned back in his chair. It was so quiet with the power out. He never realized how much noise the computer's rumbling made until they all stopped. He was in his cubicle, trying to get some work done during lunch break. Everyone else had left for the lunch hall, but he'd been behind on a few things, so he stayed. And now he was alone in the dark and he might have just lost all the damn work he stayed behind to do!
"Fuck." He kicked at his desk. Hopefully, he didn't lose too much work. Hopefully the damn power came back soon.
His eyes had adjusted to the darkness now. So when he shifted in his chair to get comfortable, he spotted the figure a couple cubicles away. It was just a dark silhouette, tall enough to be seen over the tops of the cubicles. He had been about to speak up, call out to them, probably something along the lines of, "Oh, you're here too?". But even as he opened his mouth, he realized how strange it was for the figure to be seen that high over the tops of the cubicles. They were pretty tall. This figure… was very tall.
As he stared, his eyes focused more. He made out more details. The figure was tall, incredibly tall. Unmoving. They simply stood there. He held his breath, feeling like it was so loud in this silence. He swore he could hear his own heartbeat. He tried to calm down, that wasn't a person, it was probably some object in the dark that he was mistaken for a person. Or something not a person…
For a brief moment, he considered if that thing he could see was one of their samples, escaped from containment. But that wasn't possible. Their specimens were all small or wide. This figure was tall and thin. Still, it wasn't moving, so he wondered if he should quietly sneak away? Maybe it hadn't noticed him? He hoped.
He carefully lowered himself to duck under his cubicle walls. He would sneak out and around and just make his way to the door and get to the lunch room. He would feel much safer with more people around. As he lowered himself, he saw the figure shift. He almost let out a sound when he saw glowing green eyes, but managed to duck and hide beneath his desk.
Shit. Shit.
At times like this, he wished he had the clearance to have a gun. But noooo, only those with a level 3 or higher rank were allowed to carry firearms within the facility. But he was just a lowly accountant! He just dealt with boring stuff, so he didn't have a gun! He cowered under his desk, listening as hard as he could.
Nothing.
After many long tense minutes, he uncurled himself and began crawling out from under his desk. Ok, get to the door and get out. He crawled on all fours out of his cubicle and immediately froze. He was looking down, and he didn't want to raise his head. There, in front of him, were the dark silhouette of legs. He felt a strong tickling itch on the top of his head. He could picture it clearly in his mind, an image of that dark, tall figure leaning over and breathing on his head.
He couldn't move, just hoping beyond hope that he wasn't going to die.
Cold breath puffed against the top of his head and he nearly cried.
In yet another area of the facility, a security guard yawned in his room. The power went out, so the screens he was meant to keep an eye on were all down. Just as well, he was tired. Nothing he could do about a power outage. So he played an app game on his phone while waiting for the power to come back. He was hoping to pull an SS tier today during the event. Well, shit he'd actually used up all his crystals. Ehhhh… he could just buy more. What was $5.99 for 600 crystals, right? He was a grown man, he could spend his money on whatever he wanted.
He was startled when the screens all lit back up.
For a moment, he thought the power was back. But then the security guard realized the lights were still off. Nothing was working but the monitors were all lit and displaying the security feed. That was strange enough on its own. But he noticed something else immediately.
The videos coming through the camera feeds weren't… correct.
They were entirely different rooms from what he had before. From what he was familiar with.
Instead of overlooking the facility, the images on the camera feed showed… some kind of closed down food place? He wondered if the cameras in the system had reset. Or caused some form of new program to be plated across his screens instead… he blinked as he looked through the different monitors.
Were those furry suits?
I hummed to myself as I walked through the office. The humans all laid sprawled around me, sleeping heavily. I stripped the data off their computers as I passed, devoured it all to peruse and analyze later. Or now, I suppose. I flickered through the information I've gathered, the computer screens around me buzzing into static as I took the liberty of frying them all once I took what I wanted from them.
Ok~ so they did have a couple aliens trapped here. Imprisoned or dead. There was no in-between. They apparently did try communicating with their prisoners, but since they had violently captured the aliens to begin with, those conversations weren't very civil. What species did they have? The humans certainly didn't know.
I flickered through their records, searching for photos. Ah, they had two Crozlians and one F'neri. The rest of their prisoners had died from a lack of life support for their biology in the toxic oxygen rich planet that was Earth. Aaaaaand the dead were promptly dissected. Fun.
I continued destroying their digital records as I walked, looking through the cubicles for any physical paperwork that seemed important. I took anything that seemed even remotely interesting and sent them to a subspace pocket for later. Ok first off, I should free the prisoners.
A guy twitched on the ground, letting out a whimper. I gave him a brief glance before returning to my work.
Been a while since I pulled people into a shared nightmare. I hated how good I felt doing so.