Warning : There will be another torture scene this chapter, similar to the one in Chapter 4! Please be careful reading this.
Trophy followed behind the rest of the search team. A couple days ago, it was announced that the Inanimate Insanity headquarters ( which existed, apparently, ) had found, or rather, been given footage that could help with the case. It had been so sudden, so Paper couldn't turn the offer down, and now they were all here. Nobody had expected their work with Mephone4 to go this far, including Trophy himself.
Trophy never said why he joined the search team. In all honesty, he didn't know why either. Maybe it had to do with losing one of the four people who didn't annoy him to his breaking point. Maybe it was just boredom from how little there was to do around the hotel. It didn't matter why, all that mattered is that he did.
MePad led the group into a meeting room, letting the others file in before closing the door behind them. They walked up to the front of the room as the others got into their chairs. "Hello! It is nice to see you're all doing well. I'm assuming everybody here is part of the search team?" There were a few sounds of agreement, though nobody fully spoke, making the room's atmosphere a bit awkward.
"Alright. We invited you all here today to discuss the missing cases of Lightbulb, OJ, and Soap." MePad affirmed.
"We?" Marshmallow asked.
"Yes, 'we' refers to all of us at Inanimate Insanity Headquarters. Just because all of us could come to the meeting or help out with this particular situation doesn't mean you don't get credit for the thought." MePad said supportively. "Although, Mephone4 was asked to attend the meeting with us, and they haven't visited the conference room yet today. Perhaps I should call them, in case they forgot the date." MePad's screen turned to their contacts list.
"No no, it's fine, we can continue without them!" Paper said.
"If you insist." MePad said, their screen returning to their face. "With that aside, we invited you here because of footage Inanimate Insanity Headquarters has received. We believe this may help you with the investigation. Should I play the video?"
"Yes please." Paper said, being the leader of the group.
"As you wish." MePad said, their screen changing to a video. The video started off with some clicking, and OJ facing the camera. He looked panicked, and was holding the camera. There was a noticeable crack on the top of his head, a small piece of it missing. There were sounds of something being slammed against metal in the background.
OJ didn't appear to realize it was recording already, still fiddling around with what Trophy assumed was a keyboard. A couple seconds in, he dropped the camera. Although the view was now aimed at the ceiling, you could still see something had stabbed OJ in the arm. Just a moment after that, the screen began bugging out, tinting it random flashing colors. The thing that was really glitched, however, was the audio.
OJ ran, bringing the camera with him. He slammed his back against the wall. There was a loud, pixelated scream from an unidentifiable voice as soon as he did. OJ began talking to the camera, though it came out too glitchy to understand more than 5 words. The video began cutting out at some points, the quality actively becoming worse, until the video ended entirely.
Trophy looked around at the search team. Knife seemed to have taken it the lightest, still looking surprised, but disgruntled at most. Marshmallow looked confused and disturbed, and Apple ( who had followed her along despite not really being in the search team ) was concerned. Paper was probably the most concerned of all of them, still staring at MePad with a look of disbelief, clearly trying to keep himself together. MePad's screen had reverted back to their face, holding a solemn look as they let the others process what they had just seen before continuing.
"Last Sunday, an anonymous user submitted this on the official Inanimate Insanity page using the recording feature. Due to it being an anonymous submission, we cannot find any additional information." MePad said. "We tried to decipher what was said in the video, though it's proving difficult as the corruption comes from direct breakage to the laptop it was sent from, and not the file itself being corrupted. So far, we have not recognized anything noteworthy. If you wish, I could send you copies of the file to try deciphering on your own time?"
"Yes, could you do that now?" Paper asked, visibly distraught. MePad nodded before their screen turned into a loading bar. The room was dead silent during that time. After a period of time, the bar reached the end and MePad's face popped back up.
"All of you should have received an email with the video file attached. Is there anything else we should cover before we end the meeting?" MePad said, though didn't receive a response. "...Alright. Thank you all for visiting, you are welcome to leave when you want." They finished before teleporting out of the room. Slowly but surely, everybody left the room.
On the walk back, Trophy spoke up. "An entire meeting just for that?" He stopped once he realized almost everybody was glaring at him.
He drove back to the hotel, thinking about the video on the way back. Where exactly had OJ been recording? Trophy certainly didn't recognize the background, and nobody had spoken up about it. Not to mention how quickly the video had gone, and how it glitched out. And the second voice? It was an information overload, especially considering how they had almost nothing to go off of up until now. Trophy didn't want to think too hard about it, it didn't fit his personality. But one sympathetic question clung hard, despite how hard he tried to drop it.
How were they doing now?
-
Lightbulb glanced over to OJ. He hadn't been acting the same since that day. 2 days ago, they had their first piece of hope they've had in months. While none of them forgot they now had OJ's message out there, the atmosphere had become duller.
OJ himself seemed... empty. Both literally and metaphorically. At least he started trying to get proper sleep for once. Before now he'd stay up ridiculously late, regardless of reason, then get up at the same time as Lightbulb and Soap as if he had gotten enough rest. Outside of that, he got annoyed easily, assuming he wasn't already spaced out. Both his 'roommates' were concerned for him.
Soap was the one who held onto the positivity the most. She hummed small little tunes, which Lightbulb hadn't seen her do before. She wrote a concerning amount, but it wasn't like she hadn't been before.
If Soap had been at the positive end of the spectrum, and OJ had been in the middle, then Lightbulb was the negative side. She had been elated when OJ first told her what had happened, but it only went downhill from there. She sat in her corner of the room more, underneath the window so Soap couldn't see her. She still drew, but the drawings felt different. They were the same things, the same happy things she had drawn before, but... different. Soap couldn't lay her finger on it.
Soap didn't know how everything had changed so quickly. Hasn't there just been a breakthrough? A chance of getting out, and a big one at that? It was almost as if they had both forgotten about it. She looked at the calendar. June 16th, Wednesday. The clock said it was early morning, a little before breakfast. 6:27, to be exact.
Soap reached towards her boredom, going to write again out of boredom, until she heard the door opening. She sat back up, for no particular reason. Normally everything would've stopped talking the moment Test Tube opened the door, but there already had been complete silence.
Soap looked at her tray, expecting it to open, though was caught off guard when the door itself opened instead. Test Tube stood in the doorway, some sort of rope in hand. "What are you-"
"No questions," Test Tube interrupted, "I'll explain it to all three of you once we're there." She walked forward towards Soap. Soap stayed still, watching cautiously. Test Tube tied part of the rope closer to the end around Soap's wrists, leaving a trail of rope behind her.
Before Soap could fully process what was, or was going to happen, she was dragged out of the room. Test Tube walked over to the door to OJ and Lightbulb's room, putting her hand up to Soap before she could even think of running. She was brought into the room with Test Tube, standing idly as the scientist did her work.
OJ's wrists were bound behind her, with Lightbulb being the last in line. Soap looked at the two, confused. OJ seemed equally confused, though a little more scared then Soap. Lightbulb looked like she'd have a heart attack any second.
Test Tube grabbed the remaining rope in front of Soap and dragged them out of the hall, closing the doors behind her. Soap hadn't seen anything besides the two rooms and occasional glances at Hall 17 for two straight months, so the sight of something new was nice.
Halfway through the walk, Soap heard whispering. She turned around to see who was talking, only to see Lightbulb muttering to herself. It didn't take an expert to tell what she was worried about, as her hands were raised to her bandages as they tugged at each other. OJ's face was the most sympathetic Soap had ever seen it.
Eventually Test Tube brought them into a room. The room's walls were lined with counters filled with various tools and papers, with a metal table serving as a centerpiece in the middle of the room. The room left Soap with a bad feeling in her stomach.
Test Tube tied the end of the rope to one of the cabinet doors that had a padlock on it. She walked over to Lightbulb and untied her wrists before she re-tied the rope to another cabinet. Lightbulb hugged herself, almost as if she knew what was going to happen next.
"Now, let me explain why I brought you all here." Test Tube said, holding Lightbulb's arm. She was visibly trying to avoid the rope burn around the object's wrists, though it was proving hard with how much Lightbulb shook. "I'm sure you all know what S-3 did. I hope you weren't thinking I'd let it go without discipline. Since last time's discipline worked so well, I figured I'd do it again."
Soap's heart dropped. Again. Lightbulb had already gone through it once, and just that left its mental scars. But now she'd have to go through it again. And Soap had to watch it, along with OJ.
"You know the drill, E-1." Test Tube said, slanting the metal table. Now that Soap had a full view of the table, she saw four metal binds, and a tray next to it filled with tools, similar to the countertops. Lightbulb walked forward slowly. Despite how slow she went, she made it to the table and laid down on it. Her wrists and ankles slid into the metallic straps before they snapped shut around them, trapping her on the table.
Test Tube reached for one of the tools on the tray beside her. "Wait-" Lightbulb intervened. "What about..."
"Did you not hear what I said?" Test Tube asked, fiddling with the sharp tool in her hand. It almost looked like a drill bit, or a screwdriver. "It's the same punishment as last time. That means no anesthetic." Lightbulb opened her mouth to fight back, though closed it before she said anything.
"You can't do this!" OJ shouted from beside Soap, fighting against his restraints to no avail.
Test Tube ignored him, instead opting for slicing open Lightbulb's bandages before tossing them into a trash can. Lightbulb's wound was... rough. There were obvious attempts to reseal the glass, though it looked as though Test Tube had given up at getting it perfect after some time.
Next, Test Tube grabbed a small hammer, the other tool still in her hand. She angled the hammer to line up with the tool over one of the many scars left of Lightbulb's body. Lightbulb held her breath before the hammer was sent down.
CRACK
Soap couldn't tell who's scream was who's as the hammer hit Lightbulb, sending a hundred different small cracks across her stomach. Test Tube didn't so much as flinch as Lightbulb cried out, hopelessly fighting the metal binds.
Soap couldn't do anything but watch. She gagged as blood spurted everywhere, looking away so she wouldn't vomit. Even then, she could still hear everything painfully well, and her imagination did the rest, no matter how much she tried to wrench the images away.
Soap lost track of how much time had passed, trying to direct her attention away from Lightbulb. If Soap wanted to leave this badly, she couldn't imagine how she was feeling. After forever, the screams died out, but the silence was almost worse than the sobbing.
Soon, the sound of fire flooded the room. Not an overwhelming fire, just a small, almost peaceful one. Soap's curiosity got the better of her, and she looked back to the table. Test Tube was melding glass shards back into Lightbulb's body using a... Soap didn't know what that was, but it produced a small flame hot enough to melt the glass back together.
After god knows how long of screaming, the fire was a mercy. Soap closed her eyes, imagining herself back at the hotel. Before all of this happened. Talking to Trophy, cleaning around the hotel because she wanted to, going back to the medbay every few hours because Tissue's condishawn got the better of him again. Sure, it wasn't all completely positive, but there was happiness even in the negative. Things were playful, you could forget about things, even for just a moment.
Soap reminded herself to journal about the feeling so she wouldn't forget it.
Eventually the soft sound of fire stopped, leaving the room empty. Soap opened her eyes again, staring at the scene. There were traces of blood surrounding Lightbulb. Lightbulb herself had passed out, dried tears stuck to her face. The metal binds made a small click as they let Lightbulb go, making her slump into Test Tube's arms.
Test Tube took her earplugs out ( when had she put those in? ) and walked over to Soap and OJ. She began untying the knots on the cabinet doors.
"You're a terrible person." OJ said, glaring in her direction. "It's a shame someone like you was given your smarts."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Test Tube said. Then she smiled, as if she was proud of herself. Proud of what she had just done. Soap had to resist the urge to shatter her right then and there.
Eventually, the three of them ( excluding Lightbulb, who was being carried by Test Tube ) walked back, the rope still dragging Soap and OJ along. Soap didn't marvel at the lab this time. It was just as bad as her room as far as she knew.
Once they reached the hall again, Test Tube pushed them both into the white room, setting Lightbulb against the wall. "Aren't you supposed to bandage her? And what about the rope?" Soap asked, struggling to slip her hands through the said rope without hurting her wrists.
"Take it as a part of your punishment." Test Tube said before closing the door. Even after her footsteps faded away, Soap and OJ remained silent. Neither of them wanted to stay quiet, but they didn't know what to say.
After some time, Soap noticed Lightbulb stirring awake. OJ noticed as well, and the both of them walked over to her side of the room.
Lightbulb rubbed her eyes before looking back down at her hands. If you looked closely, you could see her memories of the scene flooding back to her. She let herself collapse into Soap, arms clutching her stomach. Soap still didn't say anything, wrapping her arms around Lightbulb the best she could considering the rope was still there. OJ sat beside her, staring at the wall again. The room quieted out, Lightbulb holding Soap close to her as she trembled. Not a single word was spoken.
After all, what was there to say?