hey y'all! just want to let you know i made an official blog for this fic (that-one-coppernauts-fic on tumblr). check it out for art, updates, other bonus content, and general fun times!
Benny had thought that if anything was going to come after them, it was going to come from the sides. So when the floor suddenly dropped open, he only dipped down a little before his floating instincts kicked in, but by the time he realized what was going on, it was too late. The rest of the group had vanished into the darkness below.
Then he saw that it wasn't just one pit – the hole in the floor was divided into three sections.
"Well, isn't this a dilemma?"
Benny whirled to face the security camera. "What did you do? Where are they?"
"Now, now, Deputy. That would be telling."
Flying up so that he was inches away from the lens, Benny snarled, "Then tell."
Kinzel laughed. "It was kind of you to come in even numbers. It wouldn't be as exciting if I sent all of you to the same place, and I feel pairs are always best. Oh, but with you up here, someone's alone down there. Dear me. "
Benny stared at the three gaps. "I don't suppose you'll tell me which way they went?" he asked without much hope.
"Do you like gambling, Deputy?"
"Not particularly."
"That's just too bad, then."
Closing his eyes, Benny weighed his options. He could opt to not go after any them at all, and see where the corridors would lead him – but Wyldstyle hadn't finished saying which direction they should go, ruling out what could have been his best lead. Besides, he couldn't leave someone to deal with whatever Kinzel had planned all on their own.
He tried to remember where they'd all been standing. Emmet and Wyldstyle had been next to each other, and Benny had been near Good Cop when it happened, so…
Benny opened his eyes, grabbed the camera, and twisted until it broke at its joint. As he tossed it aside, Kinzel said, "If you're trying to hide which direction you're going in, I'll just see you at your destination."
"Shut up," Benny said, floating over to where he'd been before. He took a deep breath, and then let gravity take hold.
Good Cop hit the floor hard, and his entire body gladly reminded him of the brutally long day he'd had so far. He bit back a string of curses and pushed himself upright, adjusting his glasses. The crack in the left lens had grown, and he was surprised it hadn't broken entirely yet. He took them off and considered just leaving them behind and getting a new pair later, since the fracture was starting to interfere with his vision. After a moment, he pressed his thumbs down on the left lens, popping it out, and then did the same to the other side before sliding the glasses back up his nose. Having them on made him feel just that much better, and he was going to take what he could get. It wasn't like they were prescription anyway.
He stood up and checked himself over, making sure he had his gun, baton, and knife. Satisfied that he was still fully equipped, he finally tried to take in his surroundings.
There wasn't much to take in. It was so dark he could barely see five feet in front of him, and a low fog coiled around his ankles. He began to walk forward, then caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Whirling around, he drew his gun out of his holster and trained it on a shadowy figure, which was aiming another gun right back at him.
Good Cop narrowed his eyes. Wait a minute…
"Jumping at our own shadow, are we?" Kinzel said, and the lights flicked on.
Good Cop squinted against the sudden brightness, and then he saw… himself. He was standing in front of a mirror – in fact, he was surrounded by mirrors. They all reached up to the ceiling, and the panels formed a twisted path away from the hole Good Cop had fallen out of.
"A mirror maze, really?" Good Cop asked, lowering his gun a little. "Why do you even have this?"
"For intruders, of course," Kinzel replied. "Like, for instance, you."
With a growl, Good Cop pulled the baton out of his belt and swung it at the nearest mirror. The baton bounced back, and the mirror was unscathed.
"You didn't think I'd make it that easy, did you? Oh, I don't suggest doing that," Kinzel added as Good Cop raised his gun again. "The bullet will only ricochet. And you should conserve your ammunition."
"What does that mean?" Good Cop snarled.
"You'll see. Have fun!"
These were obviously meant to be parting words, and in the absence of Kinzel's voice the silence became heavy, pressing in on Good Cop. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and he tried not to look too hard at his reflections. He tightened his grip, and cautiously stepped into the maze.
Wyldstyle's first instinct as they fell was to reach for Emmet, and she flung her hand out, grabbing onto the rough fabric of his uniform.
"Lucy," he gasped, clutching at her.
"Hold tight, babe," she managed to say, pulling him close.
The tunnel began to curve, until they were no longer falling but sliding downwards along its length. A faint light appeared ahead, and Wyldstyle squeezed her eyes shut as Emmet buried his face in her shoulder.
Then they were sailing through the air again, just for a brief moment, and then they hit the ground, rolling a little ways before sliding to a stop.
Groaning, they untangled themselves. "You okay?" Emmet asked, helping Wyldstyle to her feet.
"Yeah," Wyldstyle replied, trying to peer though the darkness. It was hard for her to see even Emmet, who had pressed close to her, holding her hand tight. "Where are we?"
As if on cue, a single light flicked on, illuminating a cart on a track. It looked like something from a carnival, with two seats inside back-to-back. Each seat had a large gun mounted in front of it.
With nowhere else to go, they approached the cart cautiously. As they examined it, Wyldstyle inspecting the guns and Emmet checking the inside, Kinzel's voice suddenly boomed, "Hello, hello!"
Both of them twitched in surprise, and then anger quickly flooded through Wyldstyle. She glared upwards. "What the hell is this?"
"What, haven't you ever heard of a dark ride?"
"Like the ones at theme parks, where you shoot at targets?" Emmet asked cautiously.
"So you do know! Perfect! I suggest you get in the cart quickly, though."
A 'why' was on the tip of Emmet's tongue, when he heard something behind him – a sound like scratching claws. He turned to look, but there was nothing but pitch black outside the ring of light they were in. The sound came again, closer this time.
Full of malicious glee, Kinzel said, "It's much more fun with higher stakes, don't you think?"
The sensation of falling, Business quickly decided, was the absolute worst. He tried to curl in on himself, but suddenly the tunnel bent, and he was sliding upwards, carried by his own momentum and assisted by a powerful blast of air from below. Then it turned into a downward slide, and then it dropped out again, and he fell from a hole in the ceiling of a brightly-lit room, landing face first.
"Ow," he said, somewhat muffled by the floor.
A moment later, Unikitty drifted out of the chute, their frilly skirt acting as a parachute and slowing their descent. They alighted on Business' back and smoothed their dress out.
"That was fun," Unikitty said cheerfully.
"Get off," Business protested, pushing himself up to dislodge them, and they jumped daintily to the side. Sitting back on his heels, he put a hand to his nose. His fingers came away with some blood on them, and he grimaced. He wiped them off on his pants, hoping that there would be at least one functioning dry cleaners left in Bricksburg after all this was over.
Unikitty had already made a full assessment of the room. There was nothing in it but them, and the ceiling, floor, and three of the walls were all painted white. The fourth wall was made of glass, and through it they could see Kinzel lounging in a chair in front of a myriad of monitors, Rawley standing at his side. He seemed to be talking into a microphone, and Unikitty realized with a start they could see Wyldstyle and Emmet on one screen, and Good Cop on another. There was no sign of Benny.
Business came to stand beside them, and hammered on the glass with his fist. "Hey!" he shouted.
Rawley looked over her shoulder, then tapped Kinzel. He swiveled around to face them and said one last thing into the microphone with a smirk before putting it down and standing up. Walking over, he pressed a button outside the glass and said, "Princess Unikitty. It's such a delight to see you again."
Unikitty stuck out their tongue, but Kinzel had turned his attention to Business. "I must admit I'm surprised you're here, Mr. Business, but the surprise is very much a welcome one."
"Wait," Unikitty said, finally fully processing Kinzel's words. "What do you mean 'again'?"
Kinzel smiled wide in a way that chilled both Unikitty and Business to the bone, and he said, "Today really is my lucky day."