Countdown: Part III
Surrounded by his flock, Minato stood there, scratching his head so vigorously it seemed like he was trying to uncover buried treasure. His befuddled expression was almost comical as he surveyed the assembled group.
"Um, ladies and...well, ladies," he stammered, momentarily forgetting Homura wasn't with them at the moment. "Let's stick together and figure this out."
Musubi, the perpetually perky brawler, clapped her hands with the enthusiasm of a toddler who had just stumbled upon a candy store inside a unicorn's lair. Her eyes sparkled with the fervor of someone who had just witnessed a quadruple rainbow, "Yay! Adventure time, Minato!"
Kusano, her voice soaring to heights only helium-filled balloons could reach, joined in the cheering. "Yeah! Adventure!" she declared, her words squeaking like a chipmunk on a caffeine high.
The group piled into the elevator, squeezing themselves into the tight space. Minato found himself sandwiched in by their surrounding busts, feeling like a sardine in a particularly crowded tin.
As the elevator began its descent into the abyss, the Narrator's voice droned on like the ominous soundtrack of a suspenseful movie. "As our intrepid Sekirei and Ashikabi descended deeper into the complex, they wondered if they were mere pawns in a cosmic chess game, subject to the whims of an unseen force. One had to wonder what kind of choices they would make and what bizarre consequences awaited them."
"Choices and consequences, eh? Sounds like a regular night out for me!" Kazehana quipped, her craving for a sip of sake intensifying with each passing moment.
Matsu raised a sardonic eyebrow, her lips curled into a wry smile. "Well, if we are part of a game, can we at least level up or acquire some cheat codes?"
The elevator continued its downward journey, and Minato attempted to unravel the enigma before them, his head spinning faster than a hamster on an espresso binge. "Guys, let's stay focused. We need to find a way out of here."
Kusano, who had been carrying a tiny plant on her noggin all this time (a detail the narration conveniently omitted until now), nodded vigorously. "I hope we find some sunlight soon. My plants are getting thirsty!"
The elevator's descent culminated, and the doors slid open with a haunting creak, revealing a spine-chilling corridor. Bolted plumbing and electrical wires sprawled haphazardly across the concrete walls and ceiling, creating a visual cacophony that would make even the most obsessive-compulsive individual break into fits of manic, neurotic laughter.
Musubi had been daydreaming and had zoned out as the group disembarked from the elevator. Minato turned around to find her in la-la land and inquired, "Hey, Musubi? You coming?"
Kusano rejoined her on the elevator and playfully tugged at Musubi's skirt, jolting her back to reality. Musubi snapped out of her reverie, her eyes gleaming with dreams of adventures yet to unfold. "Oh, sorry. Yes," she yawned, stretching lazily. Her arms descended with a clumsy grace, accidentally pressing the elevator's oversized red 'up' button, causing the doors to slam shut with her and Kuu still inside. "Oh, whoops!"
"In her absent-mindedness, Musubi inadvertently triggered the button, sealing her and the green girl's fate as they ascended once more towards the boss's office," Narry narrated further, "Oopsie!"
"Great, now we're down three," Minato grumbled, his frustration evident. "Perfect."
"Don't worry about them, Minato," Yume reassured him, her voice a soothing balm amid the chaos. "We just need to wait for them to come back."
The Narrator interjected with a dose of reality, "I hate to be a buzzkill, but it appears the modder has arranged it so they won't return. You won't see her again until respawning in Stanley's office."
"Will they be okay?" Miya inquired, genuine concern etched on her face.
The Narrator responded with a touch of absurdity, "As long as they can keep their hands to themselves up there, they'll be fine."
Miya and Tsukiumi took the lead, guiding the flock around a few corners. As they neared a set of open double doors, a fluorescent light above it flickered to life, casting an eerie glow on the path ahead. The message above the doors, indecipherable to them, left them with a sense of foreboding. It read,
MIND
CONTROL
FACILITY
Before Matsu could speak what it said, Narry decided to play the translator. "Minato and the flock proceeded straight ahead through the imposing double doors labeled: MIND CONTROL FACILITY."
"Yeah, no," Kazehana moaned, her bedroom eyes narrowing alongside everyone else's.
"What does thou take us for, fools?" Tsukiumi commented, her skepticism apparent.
Minato, however, noticed a sign with a bold red arrow. He pointed to it and asked Matsu, "Hey look. What does that sign say, Matsu?"
Matsu leaned forward, adjusting her glasses like a voyeuristic detective as she translated, "It says 'escape.' Perhaps the modder did leave us a way out after all?"
They all unanimously chose to go down the narrow passage the escape sign instructed them to. It didn't take long before the Narrator decided to grace them with a friendly warning.
"Although this pathway had the word 'escape' written on it, the truth was at the end of this corridor, they would all meet their violent deaths."
That stopped them in their tracks. Moments later they were all ushered back before the MIND CONTROL FACILITY.
As they all crossed the threshold, the doors sealed them in.
"The doors slammed shut behind them with a dramatic finality, sealing their fate within the enormous cylindrical chamber that lay beyond. The lights rose dramatically, casting an eerie and unsettling glow upon them. The walls were adorned with flat-screen televisions, hundreds of them, their screens a dizzying array of surveillance footage, each one monitoring an employee in the building. 'What horrible secret does this place hold?' They thought to themselves. Did they have the strength to find out?"
The colossal chamber they found themselves in seemed like the deranged lovechild of a James Bond villain's secret lair and a surreal Salvador Dali painting. The walls towered high above them, their flat-screen televisions like the eyes of an omnipotent and paranoid deity scrutinizing their every move.
The screens flickered with an unsettling, disorienting array of surveillance footage, each one capturing the bizarre antics of the now-absent employees. On one screen, a clueless individual was using a stapler as a phone, as if expecting a call from the office supplies department. On another, a woman tried to photocopy a box of donuts, her face a twisted mix of hunger and existential despair.
Minato blinked in bewildered amazement at the surreal spectacle before them. The chamber seemed like the deranged lovechild of a James Bond villain's secret lair and a Salvador Dali painting come to life.
Kazehana couldn't help but quip, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I half-expect someone to jump out in a snazzy cape and twirl a mustache at any moment."
"Like Minaka, you mean?" Matsu replied dryly. Aside from a few monitors, there was no trace of human life to be found. The entire complex, apart from their group, stood eerily silent and devoid of any living presence.
Yume raised an eyebrow, her expression a blend of amusement and bewilderment. "I don't think I've ever seen office work taken to such surreal extremes, even with Minaka."
The Narrator's eerie voice echoed once again. "With the monitors now live, the flock observed in silence. Each bore a number corresponding to an employee in the building; Stanley's co-workers. The lives of so many individuals going about their work routine were now barren. All of them missing, including Stanley himself…"
"Maybe it's their day off?" Minato assumed, trying to inject some rationality into the absurdity.
As they advanced further, another catwalk beckoned them deeper into the MIND CONTROL FACILITY, and a rotating red beacon light attached to a descending elevator began to revolve, capturing their attention.
Once arriving at its destination, the elevator's cylindrical gate swished open, beaconing them inside.
Miya and Tsukiumi were the first to hop aboard, the others soon following. The gate swished shut and they began to ascend.
XXXXXX
Meanwhile, back in the boss's office…
Exiting the elevator following numerous attempts to get it to go back down, Musubi and Kusano took a collective sigh and walked out back into the boss's office, only to find it completely different than before. Now, the walls were covered with enormous paintings of office supplies engaged in epic battles. Giant staplers jousted with oversized paper clips, and a colossal pen had just impaled a massive eraser in a triumphant pose. It was like a cubicle-themed Game of Thrones, and they half-expected the photocopier to sit on an iron throne at the end of it all.
Musubi and Kuu knew now for a fact that they weren't in Kansas anymore.
Staying close, their journey took them to a set of double doors, each one bearing a giant question mark that seemed to mock their confusion. As they hesitated, trying to decide whether to push or pull, a voice boomed from nowhere and everywhere, echoing through the corridor like a caffeinated thunderclap. It wasn't the Narrator.
"Welcome, brave wanderers, to the Office of Absurdity!" the voice declared with the gravitas of a helium-filled balloon. They turned and looked low to see a pencil with crudely drawn stick arms and legs bounce toward them. "I am the Great Pencilvester, guardian of the Bizarre Files. To proceed, you must answer a riddle."
Pencilvester? Was this a crossover with Rick and Morty now?
Musubi's cowlick curled into its trademark questionmark, "A riddle?"
"What happens if we guess wrong?" Kuu asked.
Pencilvester cleared his throat as they exchanged puzzled glances. "Here's your riddle: Why did the photocopier go to therapy?"
Musubi furrowed her brow, contemplating the nonsensical question. "Because office work is boring?"
A loud, cartoonish buzzer sounded, and the Great Pencilvester declared, "Wrong!" the doors then swung open with a dramatic creak. "But close enough! You may proceed."
They stepped through the doors and found themselves in a room filled with floating desks. Papers and coffee cups levitated in the air, engaged in a whimsical dance of disarray. They had to dodge flying office supplies and swivel chairs that spun like reckless ballerinas.
At the center of the room was a towering filing cabinet, its drawers the size of houses. From behind it, a pair of oversized reading glasses peered out, resting atop a giant nose that seemed to belong to a faceless entity.
The giant glasses spoke, "You have entered the Domain of the Ineffable Inbox. To pass, you must answer one question: What is the meaning of office life?"
"I'm not good at answering questions I don't know." Musubi deflated.
Kuu then spoke up, "Drinking more coffee?"
A thunderous applause erupted as the giant glasses clapped together like cymbals. "Correct! You have unlocked the path to enlightenment!"
The filing cabinet swung open, its papers flying out in every which direction. In moments they coalesced into a spiraling vortex. As they swarmed faster and faster, a portal opened.
Exchanging a glance, Kuu asked. "Should we go inside?"
"Well the elevator isn't working, so I guess we should see where it leads." she shrugged, taking the green girl's hand in her own. "Ready for an adventure Kuu?" she smiled.
"Yeah!" Kuu cheered.
XXXXXX
Back with the flock…
The elevator jolted to a halt, the sudden stop causing Minato to stumble. Their eyes widened as the gate whooshed open, and upon clearing his throat, Narry began to narrate the spectacle as the group wandered about wondering what to do next.
"But here was the proof. The heart of the operation. Before them lay an expansive, cavernous chamber, bathed in a pallid, eerie light. It was a place untouched by time, hidden away from the world like an ancient secret waiting to be unraveled. The very air seemed to hold its breath, whispering secrets of long-forgotten machinations."
"A sprawling labyrinth of steel and machinery sprawled out, an intricate web of controls and wires intertwined like the synapses of a colossal mechanical brain. Buttons and levers adorned the machinery, etched with cryptic labels that ranged from 'happy' to 'sad,' or 'content.' Each one radiated a soft, eerie light, holding dominion over the emotions and actions of countless souls, orchestrating their existence in a sinister ballet of manipulation."
"The Sekirei exchanged silent glances, their resolve strengthening as the gravity of their discovery settled upon them. Here, in this clandestine chamber, was the beating heart of the operation. Every breath, every step, every moment of existence controlled from this very place. The cold, harsh reality of their lives bore down upon them, but instead of succumbing to despair, a determination took root."
"As they ventured deeper into the facility, crossing a precarious catwalk suspended high above the ground, they reached the epicenter of their dilemma—the FACILITY POWER area. At its center loomed a colossal curved monitor, a sentinel of decisions yet to be made. Its screen bore a message that hung like an ominous question mark in the air."
MIND CONTROLS IDLE
AWAITING INPUT...
Before them stood two large buttons, each one holding the power to change their world forever. One button to power the controls on, the other to turn them off. Something was amiss however. The ON button was glowing, but the OFF button wasn't. Did it even work?
Minato turned to Matsu, seeking her wisdom in this crucial moment. "Matsu," he implored, "you've always been the one with the answers. What should we do?"
Matsu's brows furrowed as she studied the buttons and pondered the consequences of their choice. Her analytical mind churned, and she spoke cautiously, aware of the stakes.
"Off would be my guess," Matsu began, "but it seems too easy, like every other decision we've faced."
Their dilemma hung in the air, suspended between the glows of the buttons, when suddenly, the silence was shattered. A chilling presence descended upon them, casting a shadow over their deliberations.
"You're right. Don't press the off switch."
The Narrator began to speak again, "The group gasped, their heads swiveling toward the source of the ominous voice. Emerging from the obscurity at the far end of the catwalk were three figures, their faces gradually illuminated by the eerie glow of the colossal screen as they drew near."
Minato's voice hitched upon realization of who they were, "The Discipline Squad?!"
Tsukiumi, ever the protective one, pushed Minato behind her, her sudden move unintentionally causing him to stumble and press the glowing ON button.
"Oh shit!" he shouted.
The Narrator chimed in, his tone heavy with despair. "Oh Minato, you didn't just activate the controls, did you?"
"Are you alright, Minato?" Kazehana asked, leaning towards him worried.
"What in the world art thou doing in this place?!" Tsukiumi hissed, her eyes locked on the intruders.
"Your guess is as good as ours, blondie," Benitsubasa growled, her posture defiant. "We've been waiting for what feels like an eternity for you to get here."
"Yeah," Haihane added with a despondent sigh. "And it seems like we'll be waiting even longer now that those controls are up and running."