Chapter 2: Fly in a Web
With Poppy now free, the situation begins to change rapidly while Eric and Alex searches for any way to escape the factory.
When the lights turned back on, Poppy was gone. "Oh great. There's going to be a creepy doll running around here now," says Alex. "Let's not think about that now. We should be looking for a way out of this stupid place," says Eric. They walked out of the room and spotted a door that was hidden by a bookshelf.
They walked into another hallway and at the end was a red door with a name plate above it. "Wait, this is Elliot Ludwig's office?" "Who's that?" "He was the man that founded Playtime Co." "Ah, right." Eric tried to open the door, but it was locked. He then looked in a storage closet and found the key. He opened the door and they walked in the office.
Alex pointed at a vent and says: "I think we need to go in there." Eric nods before using the Grab Pack to open it. They walked into the vent and came out in another room. Suddenly, a cardboard box fell off a shelf and Poppy was standing there. "What the fuck?!" says Eric. "Oh! Uh, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to get the power back on. Here..."
Poppy moved to the side and pointed at a power outlet. Eric grabbed the outlet, connected the wire to some poles and the power turned back on. Poppy clapped before saying: "Ahem, I wanted to thank you both for freeing me. I was stuck in there for so long. Thank you. I'd like to pay you back. There is a train station near by. It needs a code, and I have it. We're gonna get out of here. As soon as you get on up here."
Eric and Alex looked at each other before climbing back through the vent. After they got back into the office, Poppy peeked out of a smaller vent and says: "Hey, I'm up here! I see you. I should be able to follow you through the vents. This way!" Eric used the Grab Pack to open a gate, unfortunately there was a massive hole in the way.
"How are we supposed to get across this?" says Eric. Alex pointed at a pipe and says: "We could swing across that. Also, if you get on my shoulders, I should be lighter than you." Eric took a deep breath before saying: "Ok, help me up then." Alex picked up Eric and placed him on her shoulders. She then grabs his legs before he uses the Grab Pack to grab the pipe.
Alex walks off the edge and they managed to swing to the other side. After getting off of Alex's shoulders, Eric opens a door and sees Poppy standing in front of a hole in the floor. "Listen, I'm going to need you to trust me." Suddenly, a long pink arm rises from the hole, grabs Poppy and drags her away. "Holy shit! What the hell was that?!" says Alex. "I don't know!" says Eric.
After looking around the room, Eric looks down the hole and says: "It looks like there's no other way out. We have to go after Poppy." "Dad, are you sure? We don't know what's down there," says Alex. "If we don't save Poppy, we can't get the train code. And if we can't get the train code, we can't get out of here. So, see ya." Eric then jumps down the hole and disappears.
Alex looked shocked before also jumping down the hole. She closed her eyes expecting to hit the ground. Instead, she lands on a slide and rides it down. She then comes out a tube and sees Eric waiting for her. "It was lucky that someone decided to make slides in the first place. Who even thought that was a good idea?" says Eric.
They walked down a long hallway and stopped in front of a shutter. Eric fired the red hand at the panel, but the same pink hand grabbed it. "A new playmate!" He tried to pull the hand away, but it got detached from the Grab Pack. Eric and Alex looked up and saw a pink lady with long arms and legs looking down at them. She had Poppy in one of her hands; her mouth was covered with a spider web.
"Mommy Long Legs?" says Eric. "It's been so long. Isn't this exciting Poppy?" She then spoke in a higher pitch to imitate Poppy. "Very exciting, Mommy!" "Mommy heard that Ms. Poppy was going to just give you the train code to escape. Now how is that fun? Instead, why don't we make a game out of it? The Game Station is still working. It will be just like old times!"
"And if you win all three games, I'll give you the train code!" "Mommy loves that idea, Poppy! Oooh, you're going to have so much fun! Head to Musical Memory, and Mommy will get things started! Obey the rules. Or I'll tear you both apart and eat your insides, while you're still alive. Starting with you." She looks over at Alex before laughing and climbing away.
Alex started to panic, but Eric says: "Listen, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. We're going to beat her at her own games, and then we're going home. You understand?" Alex slowly nods and the shutter opens. They walked into a big room, in front of them is a train. Next to the train is a console with three levers.
Eric pulls one of the levers and a voice says: "Hi kids! Welcome to the Game Station! I'm Stella, and we've got three super duper fun games to play. These little tests show us just how crazy strong and smart you are! Follow Mommy Long Legs down the stairs, and we'll start by playing Musical Memory. See you in a bit!"
After the announcement, a door in the floor opens and Eric and Alex walk down some stairs. The path to Musical Memory was blocked, so they walked through a hole in the wall and into a room with a machine in it. After turning it on, the machine made a green hand for the Grab Pack. Eric then used it to grab electricity and open a conveyor belt.
They walked through a vent and came out next to Musical Memory. "So, do you know how to play these games?" says Alex. "Well, this one is about repeating a colour sequence," says Eric. They walked to the centre of the room and Mommy Long Legs appeared at a window. "Oh! Isn't it amazing? Mommy hasn't seen the place up and running in years. Mommy can only imagine how excited Bunzo must be! It's been such a long time since he's been able to play, to cheer, to eat."
Eric and Alex looked up and saw a Bunzo doll hanging above them clanging some symbols. "Oh! That's the dinner bell. Good luck!" Bunzo rose up to the ceiling and the game began. There was a giant screen that showed a sequence of colours. Eric and Alex then pressed some buttons in the correct order. Every time they got the order correct, Bunzo would stop going down and go back up.
After each round, more colours and symbols would be added to the sequence. Eventually, a dozen buttons appeared and the sequence was constantly growing without stop. "This game is rigged!" says Eric. "How do we stop it?" says Alex. Suddenly, a stop button began circling the room. "Quick! Press that button!" Alex reached forward and hit the button. Bunzo rose up to the ceiling, the buttons disappeared and the game was over.
"Oh. It broke. That's no fun. For doing such a splendid job, Mommy has decided to give you, part of the code for the train. Look up. Take it." Eric and Alex looked up and one of Mommy Long Legs's hands was dangling above them. Alex grabbed a piece of paper and the hand went away. "Mommy was hoping the game could last a little longer. It's ok though. Mommy knows other ways to play with you."
Eric and Alex crawled through a vent into a storage room. They walked up some stairs and they were back in the Game Station. After pulling another lever, Stella says: "Whoa, you did fantastic! Who gave you permission to be this smart? Mommy is super proud of you! But I'm sure she's already told you that herself. Our next game is Whack A Wuggy! Head downstairs, and have fun!"
Another door opens and Eric and Alex walk into Whack A Wuggy. "What's this one about dad?" says Alex. "This one, should be a fun one. It's all about punching Huggy Wuggy in the face," says Eric. "Fuck yes." Mommy Long Legs appeared at a window and says: "The toys in this game used to have strings attached to them, so they could be pulled back when they got too close to the children. Have fun."
Around the room, there were many tubes in the walls. In the tubes, a little Huggy Wuggy toy crawled towards Eric and Alex. They ran around the room slapping the toys as they came out of the tubes. "You were right dad. This is fun!" says Alex. "I know. It's both fun and a little creepy at the same time," says Eric.
After a few minutes, the lights turned on and Mommy Long Legs says: "Oh, you did it. Hooray! Mommy is so, proud of you! Here. Mommy has another hint for you." A shutter opens and one of her hands appeared. Alex grabbed another piece of paper and looked at the window. "Only one game left to play. Hmm, sad. Mommy was hoping you'd stay here forever. Though it's never too late to change your mind."
Eric and Alex walked up a spiral staircase and stopped in front of a gate. Across the hallway, a shutter opens and a familiar figure walks towards them. "No way. It can't be him, he's dead!" says Alex. However, the figure wasn't Huggy Wuggy. It was the pink version called Kissy Missy. She stared at Eric and Alex, then she pulled a lever and the gate slowly opened.
Kissy walked away, Eric and Alex followed her around a corner, but she was gone. They looked at each other in confusion, then they used a toy cart called Barry to break a barrier down. They walked back into the Game Station again and Eric pulled the last lever. "Geez! Have you played these before? You're so good! Seems like you're ready for the final game: Statues! Follow Mommy down the stairs one last time. I hope you had a fun day at the Game Station, see you next time!"
The last door in the floor opened and Eric and Alex walked into Statues. "What's the final game dad?" says Alex. "Remember playing a game called Red Light, Green Light? It's basically that," says Eric. Mommy Long Legs appeared at a window and says: "It was always so sad to see the kids go. They called me Mommy, because I was the closest thing they ever had to one. But they'd come for games, and never come back. They left Mommy to die alone. Mommy didn't deserve that."
She pointed at Eric and says: "But you...you worked here." Then she pointed at Alex and says: "And you weren't supposed to leave this place. So if anyone deserves to die alone, it's you two." The game was a long hallway with a obstacle course. When the lights turned off, Eric and Alex were able to run. But when the lights turned on, they had to stop moving.
They were also being chased by a toy called PJ Pug A Pillar. Unfortunately, the ceiling had collapsed and they ran into a dead end. "Dad? What do we do now?" says Alex. Eric pointed at a window and says: "I need you to pick me up again." He was sitting on her shoulders, then he used the Grab Pack to grab a pipe above the window.
Eric and Alex were able to jump though the window and down a hole to escape the game. They ran away, until they reached a water treatment plant. "She's not going to give us the code, right? She wants to kill us," says Alex. "That's right. But, I can just guess the last part and we'll be out of here. We're going to get out of here Alex. I promise."
They left the plant and crawled through some vents. However, they fell down into a hallway with a locked door. "Great, now what?" says Eric. Alex walked to the other end of the hallway and looked up. "There's a pipe we can use to get out of here," says Alex. Suddenly, Mommy Long Legs appeared out of nowhere and Alex ran back to Eric.
"I asked you both to play fair, and you cheated! I hate cheaters! Now we're going to play one last game! It's called, Hide...And...Seek!" Mommy Long Legs started to count down from ten, the door opened and Eric and Alex ran down some stairs. They ran as fast as they could, eventually they stopped in front of a gate. Eric pulled coloured levers in a certain order to open the gate.
They walked down a hallway, but Mommy Long Legs appeared and started to chase them. Eric got onto Alex's shoulders and used the Grab Pack to hide in the ceiling. After a minute, they came back down and Eric says: "Ok, I think she's gone." They walked back down the hallway and stopped in a room with a furnace. There was another gate blocking the way, and the mechanism was missing a gear.
Eric found a mold, turned on the furnace and he was able to make a gear. He placed the gear in the mechanism and opened the gate. However, Mommy Long Legs appeared again and Eric and Alex hid in the furnace. After another minute, they came out and Alex says: "She's a fucking psycho." "I think we're almost at the Game Station," says Eric.
They walked onto a catwalk and Eric pulled a big lever. Once again, Mommy Long Legs appeared and started to chase them. "Oh give us a break!" says Eric. He and Alex ran through the old factory, trying not to get killed. Eventually, they were able to escape by jumping across a big hole. Eric used the blue hand to open a gate, but guess what? Mommy Long Legs was running down the hallway towards them.
"Look out!" says Alex. She and Eric jumped out of the way and Mommy Long Legs got one of her hands stuck in a old shredder. She tried to pull her hand out, but Eric pulled a lever and turned it on. She screamed in pain as her arm was getting shredded. "What have you done?! He'll make me part of him! You can't do this to me!"
She tried to crawl away, but one of her legs got caught and she was being pulled in. When her body was in the shredder, she screamed once more and blood was being sprayed onto the walls. The shredder then stopped and her head fell onto the floor. Eric and Alex were shocked by what just happened. Under a boarded up door, a metal hand came out and dragged Mommy Long Legs's head away.
A gate then opens and Eric and Alex walked up some stairs. He then finds another VHS tape and puts it into a tape player. A voice says: "Log code 08502. In relation: Experiment 1006, "The Prototype." A close call occurred this week, in which he nearly breached containment. The Prototype seemingly disassembled the digital alarm clock within his room, and utilised the battery along with several other components to create a laser pointer, which he then pointed into the security camera, disabling it. These actions allowed him 28.3 seconds completely unmonitored Once function returned to the camera, the room appeared to be empty. One surveillance specialist went in to confirm his absence. However, upon opening the door, she realized that The Prototype had hidden in one of the camera's blind spots. The Prototype attempted to escaped through the open door. However, another surveillance specialist was able to remotely re-lock the door, despite the other specialist still being inside. One casualty occurred. The Prototype seems to possess an unprecedented level of intelligence beyond that of all other test subjects, as well as an alarming willingness to commit violence. Further suppression treatments will need to be enacted to ensure that no other experiments develop these qualities. Experiment 1170, Huggy Wuggy, remains the optimal outcome due to his sufficient intelligence paired with maximum obedience. End of log."
"How were these people able to get away with this for years?" says Eric. "Dad, I just had a thought. Do you think that metal hand was The Prototype?" says Alex. "If that's the case, then we should get moving." They ran across a catwalk and into a office. Eric saw Poppy on a shelf, holding the last piece of paper and grabbed it.
Poppy blankly stared at Eric and Alex and says: "Did you kill her? Good, I'll board the train. We need to leave." She then walked into a vent and disappeared. Eric and Alex went into a slide and came out next to the train. He used the green hand to open the door and they climbed into the engine. He used the pieces of paper to start the train and it slowly left the Game Station.
"Well Alex, we did it. We freed Poppy and now we're going home," says Eric. "Thank God, I thought I hated this place before, but now I absolutely despise it," says Alex. As the train was heading to the exit, Poppy says: "I was so scared she'd put me back in that case. But you two saved me. You are perfect. Too perfect to lose. I'm sorry, I can't let you leave."
Suddenly, the tracks changed and the train was heading deeper into the toy factory. "No, this can't be happening," says Alex. "Poppy! What do you think you're doing?!" says Eric. "I've never met anyone like you two. Do you know how long I've been stuck in that case? Well...too long. I had so much time to think and reflect. Time to figure out exactly what I would do when free. We'll set things right. Terrible things have happened. But I know that whatever I need you to do, you're capable. We will...what is?"
Poppy was cut off suspiciously, Alex then says: "Is it just me, or are we speeding up?" As it turns out, the train was going faster and faster deeper underground. "Where's the brakes on this thing?!" says Alex. "I don't know! I've never driven a train before!" says Eric. Eventually, a giant lever was glowing and Eric pulled it.
The train put on the brakes, but it was too late. It went around a corner too fast and came off the rails. Eric and Alex hit the wall and fell unconscious, as the train came to a stop. A few minutes later, Eric opens his eyes and sees a sign that says: "Playcare." "You've got to be kidding me," says Eric.
He then closes his eyes again, unaware that something big and purple was watching them.