Danger is everywhere, but fear, that's a choice we make.

- Jane Kirkpatrick

So dark.

So quiet.

So eerily quiet.

Every shadow teased her. Every nook and cranny seemed to play the cruelest joke on her.

Even her own breathing seemed to be against her at the moment.

Koa couldn't hear a thing. Not a single sound.

Climbing and crawling through the tunnels in the walls and floors raised her heart rate. It took everything in her to keep from passing out when she traversed through the vents again.

She could've sworn she caught a glimpse of Huggy Wuggy in those vents.

Even her imagination was turning against her. Her very thoughts were a kaleidoscope in her head. Her very vision was a kaleidoscope. Nothing was in focus. She was too anxious.

'Calm down! Go faster! She's right there! Did that shadow move?! Calm down! I hear something breathing! Beating, pulsing in my head! Calm down! She's gonna catch you! You can't stop! Unless you suffocate first!'

'CALM DOWN!!'

That one thought came into focus like a slap in the face.

She stopped. She pressed her back against the wall. Closing her eyes, she focused on her breathing. She had to calm down. This was becoming too much.

'Breathe in. Hold. And out. Breathe in. Hold. And out.'

Her thoughts started to slow down. Her blood pressure and heart rate evened out. Her breathing was stable.

Finally, everything cleared up and calmed down.

'Koa, you have to get a grip. This isn't your training. It's hard, yes, but you mustn't let this get to you. You're a fighter. You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.'

Opening her eyes, she felt nothing but anger towards herself. It was like she forgot all of her training since she was ambushed by Huggy. She was much more disciplined than this. She had to focus. Even though this was nowhere near anything she ever really experienced or even expected, she could get through this.

"You got this, Koa! Remember you're training! You are a soldier! You are Warrior of the Mountain! Remember what Mom and Daddy taught you! You got this!"

Filled with renewed determination, she stood up, took one final deep breath, and released the lingering tension.

"You want to play, Mommy? Alright. Let's play."

Looking around, she saw she was in some kind of storage room. Seeing a large closed gate, she saw the sign above it read 'EMERGENCY EXIT.' Not getting her hopes up, she tried the lever next to it, but nothing happened.

"Thought not," she said quietly.

Looking down, she found another paper with notes, she picked it up and found that it wasn't notes at all.

It was a form letter.

"Warrenbach Construction Company,

This is Eddie responding once again on behalf of the Playtime Co. toy factory. Yes, it must be in complete secrecy. This project should only be known about by those with the authority at Warrenbach, and those with the authority here at Playtime.

As promised, you will be compensated very well for this secrecy. Upwards of $100,000, keeping in mind that this is a ballpark figure. We're willing to provide the proper equipment needed for excavation; however, the more independently you are able to work, the more compensation I can offer.

We'd still like to see the lab completed in 12 months time, but what's most important is that it's done right. Let me know if these terms work for you, I'm happy to negotiate until we find something that both parties can be happy with.

Take care,

Eddie M.N. Ritterman"

"Oh this I'll need," Koa said as she pocketed the letter, then she continued her quest.

Traveling through the halls, opening creaking doors, she found herself in yet another locked room. She found four different colored levers on each of the side walls, a red lever and a yellow lever to her left, and a blue lever and a green lever to her right. Immediately thinking they had to be pulled in a certain order, she looked around for any clues.

She didn't know what caused her to look up, but she saw a handle bar in a vent. Firing her Grab-Pack canon, she pulled herself up to see what she might find. Finding similar colored wires to the levers hooked to numbered transformers, Koa released the canon and pulled the levers.

Red. Blue. Green. Yellow.

Luck was with her as the gate opened up. Continuing her quest, she paused briefly. She caught drift of some tension in the air. And this time, she heard tense breathing.

And it wasn't her.

"Focus, Koa," she calmed herself. "Focus."

She took a few more steps forward, but then, right out of the shadows, Mommy Long-Legs appeared, moaning and laughing like an unhinged maniac. Turning around, she remembered the vent she was in earlier and made her way back as fast as she could, preparing her Grab-Pack along the way.

The second she was within firing range of the handle bar, she fired her Grab-Pack and pulled herself up into the vent. About ten seconds later, Mommy passed by. Though Koa didn't drop from her hiding place just yet. She could still hear Mommy Long-Legs breathing and laughing.

After about a minute, it was quiet again. Koa dropped herself from her hiding place, landing in a position to get ready to run if Mommy was around. Though the pink toy was nowhere in sight. What Koa did see was the door she came through earlier was blocked with thick webbing.

Mommy was limiting her escape routes.

'But she's in a frenzy. She's focused squarely on me. I'm all she sees. She's blind to her surroundings. That's a fatal mistake waiting to happen.'

Continuing through the tunnels, she eventually found herself in some kind of welding room. In the wall there was a large furnace, and a bunch of machinery along the walls. Finding another gate, she tried the lever, but it failed, then she noticed a gear was missing. Taking a look around, she found some power chargers and receptacles along the walls. Testing them, they powered up the furnace. After finding a gear mold, she managed to weld a gear for the gate, and placed it in its proper place. Once the gate was open, she continued.

However, she didn't make it far.

Mommy Long-Legs appeared again.

Managing to get ahead, Koa hid in the powered down furnace, and waited. After a few minutes, it was quiet again. Peaking through a hole in the metallic door, she didn't see Mommy. Slowly opening the furnace, as quietly as she could, she continued.

Making it to an area with a lift, she paused when she heard a noise nearby. When nothing happened, she pulled the lever…

Then retreated.

Mommy Long-Legs was hot on her tail again, and this time, Koa had to duck when Mommy Long-Legs stretched her arms to try and grab her from the sides.

Trying to run back to the furnace, Koa was forced to change course when she saw the door was sealed shut but webbing. Barely ten feet farther, Koa had to change direction again when the ceiling collapsed.

The chase continued in the drainage swears, and Koa had to drop into the filthy water and continued to run into the large pipes, dodging Mommy's waiting stretched hands. Seeing a dead end ahead, she prepped her Grab-Pack to fire and grab an overhead handle bar thwt she knew would be on the ceiling. Just as she pulled herself up, Mommy Long-Legs almost collided into the wall, but started to climb up the wall.

Once Koa was on the ground, Koa fired her Grab-Pack again and swung across a large chasm. After only a few yards, Koa jumped through a large hole in the floor and found herself in a storage room. Immediately seeing a lever to open a gate, she pulled the lever, and dove under the gate once she could fit.

Finding herself in a familiar looking hall in the upper levels of the factory, she felt relieved, but she didn't get her hopes up just yet. Mommy Long-Legs was still hounding her.

Halfway down the hall, Koa felt a familiar pain in her back, and she partially collapsed against the hallway wall and groaned in pain, holding her hand to her back.

"Oh no. Not now. Please not now," Koa quietly begged.

Seeing the door only a few yards away, she pushed herself further, supprting herself against the wall.

"Just a bit further, Koa. Just a little bit further."

Once she was close enough, she fired the blue canon on her Grab-Pack to the charger and waited.

Suddenly, Koa heard a familiar laugh behind her. Looking behind her, she saw Mommy Long-Legs coming in fast.

"NO! NO! COME ON! CHARGE FASTER!" Koa loudly begged.

Once the charge was finished, Koa dove under the opening door once it was wide enough, and dove out of the way, only do land unceremoniously on her stomach as her legs finally gave out.

Just as Koa rolled over onto her back, Mommy Long-Legs collided with a large machine in the room, but she had her eyes on Koa the whole time.

Koa was trapped like a rat.

The way out was blocked by a gate, and Mommy Long-Legs had already cought up with her. Mommy tried to pounce on top of her, but she was held back. Mommy looked back towards the machine, and Koa followed her gaze.

Her hand was stuck in what looked like a grinder. Seeing a lever, not really knowing what the lever was for, Koa used her Grab-Pack to pull the lever as Mommy tried to free herself.

Not even a second after the lever was pulled, the sound of a machine powered up, and Mommy screamed in pain.

The lever activated the grinder, and it was pulling Mommy in by her arm! Mommy Long-Legs struggled in vain to free herself, and she turned her attention to Koa, her face flooded in pain and fear.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DOOONNNEE?!?! HE'LL MAKE ME PART OF HIM!!" She screamed, more fear than pain, as her arm was ripped out of her shoulder joint.

Unfortunately, as Mommy tried to use her foot to free herself, her foot got caught in the grinder. Mommy fell on her back and tried to pull herself free. When that failed, she rolled over onto her stomach with a whimpered cry. Koa watched in shock as the scene unfolded, pressing her back against the gate and her hands grasping it tight, hoping maybe she'd fall through it or something.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO MEEEE!!" She cried as she desperately tried to pull herself free.

Mommy Long-Legs' abdomen was pulled closer and closer to the grinder. Then, her abdomen exploded like a crushed tomato as it was squished by the grinder. Blood sprayed everywhere across the room as Mommy squealed in pain as her insides were squeezed out of her crushed abdomen and squashed by the machinery. As her blood sprayed across the room, some of it sprayed onto Koa, and she huddled herself into a ball, covering her head with her hands and arms.

After what seemed like an eternity, Mommy's screams died down. Koa only looked up when she heard a thud in the room.

There, on the floor, was Mommy's head, thorax, and remaining arm. Her eyes wide open and a smile on her face. Blood still dripped from the machine as Mommy Long-Legs' exposed innards still hung from the grinder, and one of Mommy's legs hung from the grinder as well.

Koa relaxed by degrees, but then her hands flew to her face to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming at what she saw. Her eyes wide in shock, she tried to press herself into the gate to get away from what was unfolding.

With some mechanical noises, a large hand slithered from under the barley opened grated door. The fingers of the hand were thin, metallic needles, with ball bearings for the knuckles, and they were at least two or three feet long! Each finger was reared up, not to different from how a spider rears its legs up in a defensive posture. Slowly, the hand laid across Mommy's remains, giving Koa a view of the thing's arm. Among the wires and metal, she could've sworn she saw human bones! Just as slowly as the thing appeared, it pulled Mommy's severed corpse under the gate, disappearing into the dark.

Koa was left alone in the blood soaked room, whimpering in fear.

The next thing Koa knew, she was on her back, as the gate behind her opened up. Still unable to walk, Koa dragged herself as fast as she could and hid behind a stack of ten-gallon drums.

Still in shock, all Koa could think was one thing: What just happened?

Self-defence is Nature's eldest law.

- John Dryden

AN: Fun Fact: Koa's full name is Koa Odina Philips.

Her first name means 'Warrior' and her middle name means 'Mountain,' so her family sometimes calls her Warrior of the Mountian, because that's kinda what (I intend and hope) her name means.