(Author's Note: Hi there, hello. Today, I'm sharing a fanfic that I wrote a while back, starring a random, unimportant character that I saw in The Box. I hope you enjoy!)
Dennis's jaw dropped as his eyes darted back and forth in the laboratory's interior. What he would give to work in a place like this! In every room, he saw people exactly like him, experimenting with technology that he previously would've thought was impossible.
"Um, where is Mr. Victim's office?" Dennis asked one of the workers standing nearby.
"Just take the elevator," the stick figure replied, without looking up from her lunch.
Dennis reminded himself to breathe. Confidence. Confidence is key.
Still, Dennis couldn't help his knees from buckling as he walked to the elevator. The elevator that would lead him to his new boss.
Well, Victim would be his new boss, if he were hired. It had taken him months for his emails to even reach the billionaire's assistant, Sheila. He didn't really expect it to work, but when he finally received a response, he couldn't help but get his hopes up.
The overly dramatic elevator music made him snap back to reality. What was he doing here? Surely it was an elaborate prank! There was no way that he was actually here for an internship. He, who had never gone to college, who had never worked a real job! No, Mr. Victim would never hire someone so… inexperienced. No, not even for some mundane task. Everything about his company spoke of effortless perfection. There was no room for mistakes.
The elevator door opened, and Dennis came face-to-face with the famous billionaire himself.
Dennis smiled an invisible smile, looking at the hollow-headed stick figure in awe. He was dark gray, much darker than Dennis's own light-gray skin.
"So," Mr. Victim said amiably, "you must be the new intern."
"Yes, sir."
The two stared at each other in awkward silence.
"And your name is…?" Mr. Victim started.
"I'm Dennis," Dennis said, forcing a laugh.
"Nice to meet you, Dennis." Mr. Victim said, shaking his hand.
Dennis did his best to keep his hand from going limp. It was hard enough to carry himself decently in the presence of his hero, much less give a good, firm handshake.
"Sheila will show you around the facility and bring you up to speed on what's expected of you. I hear you're a bright kid, and you have a lot of potential. You'll do well here."
"Thank you, sir," Dennis said reverently.
The elevator dinged, and a gray stick figure stepped into the boss's office.
"Sheila?" Mr. Victim said.
"Yes, sir?"
"Train the new kid." Mr. Victim said, turning away from his employees.
"Yes, sir." She said, firmly leading Dennis back to the elevator.
"Daryl," she said as the elevator door closed, "There's a few things you need to know about the boss and a whole lot of things you don't."
"It's Dennis," Dennis interjected.
"Right. Well, as I was saying," she continued, "there's a lot of things that you don't want to know, so don't bother asking. Especially anything personal or about his origin story. He doesn't like talking about himself. Actually, scratch that, he doesn't like talking in general. So, if you have questions or need help or something, you report to me."
The elevator door opened, and Dennis found himself in the laboratory once again.
"Are you at all familiar with animation technology?" Sheila asked, pointing at the various tools.
"I mean, I know the theory behind it," Dennis said. "But… the ability to create life out of nothing! That's not actually possible, right?"
Sheila smiled. "That's what we believed, until just very recently. The boss perfected cursor technology quite a while ago. Since then, we've had some massive breakthroughs, and we're much closer than you'd think."
Sheila led Dennis to a large room. Inside, several computers sat at a desk near a glass enclosure. The room was brightly lit, and four gray stick figures stood around the enclosure in a heated debate. They were so occupied with the discussion, they didn't notice Dennis and Sheila approach.
"You can analyze the footage all you want, it's not going to change anything. The only way we're going to figure out how this works is by trial and error." One said.
"Barbara, this weapon is more powerful than anything we've ever come across. We've still hardly scratched the surface of what this thing can do. We need to do more testing." Another replied.
Barbara rolled her eyes and sighed. "Look, it's not like this thing is going to explode or anything. That weirdo was able to handle it. I mean, did you guys see him? There's no way it's that hard."
Dennis felt awkward. Even if no one was looking at him, it seemed like everyone was. He hardly dared to whisper, "Sheila, I have no idea what they're talking about."
Sheila dismissed the comment and instead chose to address the entire group. "Listen up, nerds. This is the new intern, Devin. He's going to be hanging around for the time being, getting the gist of what we do. You know, normal intern stuff."
"Sheila?" Barbara interrupted, "A new kid? And you're putting him in Research? Shouldn't he be doing something, I don't know, less incredibly top secret?"
"The boss was particular about it, Barbara. Just deal with it."
Sheila turned to Dennis. "Danny, this is Larry, Barbara, Kevin, and Howard. They're my lead scientists, so you'll be learning from the best. But for now, you're going to be quiet and listen to the nerds talk."
Kevin continued his discussion with Barbara, hardly addressing Dennis at all except for a little head nod. "The fact is, there's not a whole lot to go off of. Whatever we do, we can't stand here and argue about it for any longer. We need to do something."
"We've already run all of the tests. Someone's gotta pick up that pencil and draw." Barbara said.
"But it could be dangerous!" Larry put in.
"Shut up, Larry!" Barbara snapped, before directing her sharp stare to Dennis. "Make the intern do it."