---

As she laid there with the blanket over her head, danger raced through her thoughts. There weren’t any specific dangers, the little girl being unable to come up with any, but ever new sound only fueled the fear she was feeling. What was initially just a startle grew more terrifying the longer she hid on the bed. The muffled cries for help from beyond the chamber door down the hall certainly didn’t help. The person calling was just so far away that any words he might have cried were muffled into gibberish. More people were awaking since the pitiful alarm sounded through the halls, and the little girl had no idea what to make of it.

After what felt like hours passed, the little girl took a peek from under the sheets. The door still loomed ajar, exposed for anyone who would wish to enter. Loose fibers from the blanket made it difficult enough to see if the dim lighting was still too bright. She quickly closed the small opening when she spotted the door moving. Someone had entered the room. Was it the person who called out before so aggressively? Or was it another stranger who wished her harm? Perhaps it was a savior. She did not dare to take another peek lest she give away her position. She clenched when the door reached its limit creaking under the weight of someone leaning against it.

She waited for something to happen when the entity that occupied the same room as her began to speak. She opened her eyes. The man’s tone of voice was not angry or murderous. It wasn’t exactly that of a gentle mother or father, but it matched the words being spoken. When the man ended his attempted dialog of solace, the girl sat up with the blanket pushed away. He seemed genuine about not wanting to hurt her. The little girl relaxed. The man needed help, and she was not sure what she could do, but there seemed to be some trouble, and at the very least, this man was not it.

She slid off the bed, and slowly walked up to the man. “I’ll help.” She said quickly, and clenching her hands together. “I’m sorry I ran. I I didn’t know who you were. I don’t um…” the little girl swayed a little side to side almost like she was having second thoughts. She still had no idea who this man was. Just a moment ago she was hiding from him like her life depended on it. Not only that, but her memories of basically anything relevant to her situation, or even anything before that eluded her as well. She frowned and then looked back up at the man.

“I’ll help however I can, but do you know where I am? I can’t remember anything.”

@Randomness

So she didn't remember anything either? Figures. He'd remember if he'd ever met a little girl. But then, if he didn't remember her... fuck, weird memory shit was stupid as hell. And it kind of occurred to him that he might be in trouble if he started throwing out swears around the kid, too. Damn.

'Yeah, you and me both,' he shrugged, grimacing. 'I guess we'll have to figure out what's up. First... well, come out in the corridor with me. Take any toys you want, too, I guess.' Motioning for her to follow along, he stepped back out, trying to remember where he'd heard that other voice calling from... was it a fair distance away? Maybe? Shit. And then there were a bunch of other cells...

'Alright, kid, you're gonna need to trust me on this,' he said to her, trying to sound sort of reasonable, 'but I'm gonna go check out where that other voice came from. In the meantime, you look in the other ce- rooms, and see if there's anybody who hasn't come out yet, okay? And... uh... if something tries to get you, you run back to me? Sound like a plan?' The correction about the cells was something he probably didn't need to do, but then if this was a prison, the kid didn't need to know it. Nor did she need to think he was immediately abandoning her. He wasn't some crazy who left kids to die... he didn't think he was, anyway. Had he said "something" earlier? No, that would've scared her, he must've said "somebody"... yeah, that sounded right. "If somebody tries to get you", and so on.

@Bazmund

Once she'd agreed to that- or hell, if she clung to him like a scared puppy, he wasn't going to handhold her through all of this- he'd start walking off, trying to find where that voice had called out from earlier. If he was right, it was a little ways away... and sure enough, he eventually found a door that was for some reason still closed, and clearly containing somebody who was trying his damndest to get out.

'Ay, mate,' he called through the door, tapping on it to make sure he got the guy's attention. From the glass window looking in, he seemed like... well, a bit of a skinny weirdo. Bicho raro flaco. 'You, uh, need some help? You look like yer stuck in there.'

---

---

@BCTheEntity

---

---

From beyond the threshold of the perforated steel separating him from freedom and technology, the lanky young German soon started to hear voices. He yanked the fountain pen out of the lock and hid the fragments in his pocket as a young man appeared in the corridor.

"Yeah, my door isn't opening and I'm having trouble picking the lock. How did you get out?" He asked, taking a couple suspicious steps back from the door, his German accent colouring the words only lightly. He reached for the drawer in his desk and started retrieving what was left of his blank and lined paper supply, folding them up and stuffing them into his pockets, before packing up his pencils and his other pen.

"Can you pick locks? Or kick doors really hard? Or something?"

He stuffed the half of his white-tac pack that remained into his other pocket, before looking around the room to see if there was anything else worth taking. The paper bin was probably a no, but the lamp might yet have some uses - so he went and picked it up before heading back to the door, slinging the power cable around his chest like a bandolier.

"Or... I dunno. Do some weird shit?"

While awaiting a response to his earlier question the boy took a moment to note the specifics of the figure's appearance. It was humanoid but seemed to be covered entirely in some kind of inky black material, broken only by a pair of staring white eyes. A pair of horns adorned the figure's head and wisps of black smoke clung close to their skin. In the flickering light, most probably would have found such a creature's appearance to be terrifying or demonic, the boy instead found himself wondering if such a creature could even speak for its seeming lack of a mouth and the mounting silence between them.

As if in response to his internal musings, the figure began to slowly shake its head, snapping the boy back to the present where he remembered his question. Realising what this meant the boy's gaze fell to the ground once more. It looked like the stranger didn't know what was going on either. Was their mind also filled with fog? Disappointed the boy sank back into his thoughts, wondering what he should do next. Ask more questions? It didn't look like the figure could talk... Try to find someone else? Meeting one person had already been difficult enough. The boy’s head spun as he tried to formulate a plan of action, the whole process seeming unfamiliar to him as though such things were normally dealt with by someone else.

Looking up the boy noticed the figure was holding something to him, the fluffy thing they'd been carrying under their arm. The boy recognised the object as being some kind of stuffed toy, recalling having seen something similar in his room when he'd first woken up, though that one had had an appearance much closer to his own than the one being presented to him now. As the boy tentatively reached out to accept the offering he heard it, the singular word, “Friend.”, a momentary flicker of the lighting making it impossible tell just how the figure had spoken.

It took the boy a few moments to process the meaning behind the word, excitement beginning to well up within him as he did. The boy felt like he hadn’t had a lot of friends before, and not just because of his lack of memories, more like he wasn't sure how to make them. So when the shadowy figure offered him their friendship, the boy couldn’t help but grin.

"Thank you!"

As he hugged his friend's peace offering, the boy noticed someone else approaching from further down the hallway. Darting behind his new friend, the boy peeked out from behind them and observed the newcomer, this one having a far more common appearance for a human, or at least one closer to the boy's own. The boy briefly wondered if he should ask the newcomer if they knew what was going on, but decided against the idea, he already had his new friend for help, even if they were of very few words.

@Bartimaeus@AelitaJezebelle

@Vixen58@Conscripts

The sight of the man brandishing his hefty book certainly made Joshua give him plenty of personal space when approaching, though when the man clutched the book closer to himself, Joshua allowed his muscles to relax a bit. The man in question stated that he didn't seem to know anything about this prison...ward...place either. When he made his half-assumption half-question about Joshua not knowing anything, he shook his head and spoke.

"Yeah, no. I'd say we're in the same boat for sure. Though, the room I was in had movies and video games, so I don't think we're in some kind of prison. At least, not a normal one."

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another man approaching, once again asking if either of them knew what was happening. Being careful to leave both men plenty of room without making it sudden or obvious, Joshua shrugged and offered his best to the newcomer.

"Not really, sorry. We're both just as lost as to what the hell's going on."

"You know, I'm not sure if that question is something I should take offence to, but given our weird situation, I think it's a fair ask." Lil' Red (as he had decided to call himself for the time being) thought back to his short time before leaving his cell and meeting the others. Had there been anything strange about him? "Well, other than the memory issues we all seem to share, the only thing even a little weird is when I got up the floor didn't feel cold to my bare feet. And that could be from any number of things, but I like where your head's at Big Red."

Shit, he said the name out loud. Well, no taking it back now, might as well own it. "Until we figure out our names I feel like we need some kind of designation. I like Big Red for you," he indicated the large man, "Lil' Red for me, and Lady Red for you," he indicated the woman. "If anyone has better ideas I'm all for it." At that moment his stomach rumbled rather loudly, the intrigue of meeting new people had almost made him forget he was hungry.

"We should probably go find some food, I think the cafeteria is this way?" He said as he took a few steps towards the direction of said cafeteria, "not sure how I know, just kind of a feeling, y'know?"

@Rabidporcupine@Symphoni

---

The little girl nodded when the man motioned for her to follow him out. To her dismay, the stranger didn’t seem to know where she was either, so she also felt it was her responsibility to help him as much as she could to find out as much as he was helping her feel safe. As the man left the doorway, the little girl ran back into her room, grabbed a doll dressed in a Victorian style dress and followed the man out. She noticed that the man had a knife tattooed on his arm. Without knowing his name, the little girl opted to call him Blade in relation to that tattoo.

She looked up at the man as he explained his plan. While she was still not one hundred percent down for the idea, just having someone she could run back to was enough to give her a bit more courage to carry it out. As the man continued farther down the hall to where Blade suspected the voice was coming from, the little girl stopped by the nearest cell door.

“Alright, I’ll try to find someone else, Blade.” She said before she started looking inside. Much like her own room, the door was partially open like disengaging the lock released the tension that held the door shut, letting it finally move freely along its hinge. She pushed it open to expose the small room fully to the rest of the facility. The room was small, just as dull as her own, and completely devoid of furniture except for a single bed along the far wall. This room was not being occupied, or if it was, the occupant was no longer present. She closed the door behind her and moved on to the next room.

Blade by this point was now much farther down the hall. She could hear him speaking with someone, but could not make out the specifics of the conversation. For the next couple rooms, she found them empty, much like the first. Either everyone was not as privileged as her to get toys and furniture, or these room were never occupied waiting for the next prisoner to take up residence. Finally, she spotted some flicking coming from the next room she approached. It was faint, barely noticeable unless you were right next to it. Accompanying it was the soft sound of static. Cautiously, the little girl opened the door. There was a television, its display struggling to keep lit; the source of the flickering and noise.

Just inside the doorway, the girl clutched the doll a bit tighter as she looked about the room. Unlike the previous ones she checked, this one had someone within it. She looked towards the bed. His balled form resting against the wall, his arms over his knees. It was hard to see where he was looking, his hood covering his eyes, the dim lights, and flickering TV not helping in the slightest.

“H-hello.” She said nervously as she inched her way to the stranger sitting on the bed. He didn’t seem threatening. Blade still keeping the trophy for most scary person she had met today, but this hooded figure seemed off somehow. “Hi. My name is, um…” despite what was going on, this was the first the little girl realized she could not remember her name. She started to internally panic, but started to take deep breaths. Blade asked for her help, and now was not the time to panic. She couldn't recall anything before, her own name should not have been that surprising. But she had already started the sentence, so she felt obligated to finish it. She looked down at the doll she was holding. “…Dolly. I’m Dolly.”

The little girl moved closer to where she was at the edge of the bed. She could see the man’s face much better now. While he most certainly awake, he seemed a bit sluggish. Not sure what was going on, the little girl reached out and touched his hand as it hung over his knee. “We need to get out of here. I have a friend waiting for us in the hall.” She said. Her voice shook just a little, but she tried her best to appear brave for the dangerous situation she concocted based on what she experienced so far.

Interaction: @Conscripts @ReedeThe23rd

---

---

And then there were three...

Eying the newcomer for any signs of hostility while Americano(it was getting a bit confusing with no names and the second man's accent sounds American) informed him that they didn't know what was going on either. Taking in his appearance, he too was dressed in the same outfit as them - collar and everything - and seemed genuine enough as far as South(he's pretty confident that Afrikaans is his home language since he automatically spoke it upon waking, and that language is mostly found in South Africa) could tell... This was seriously getting too suspicious.

If they were really prisoners, what's up with the things in the(ir?) rooms? Movies and video games! What the heck is up with that(a small part of him feels a little bit cheated)? Like Americano said, a normal prison wouldn't allow those things. The aesthetic of this place was all wrong too, it resembled a science facility more than a prison. Add the collars...

Adjusting his grip on the Atlas slightly, it was a battle and a half to keep his inner turmoil to himself when all he wanted was to bury his head in his hands and curse again as theory after morbid theory started forming - being used for hunting practice by some serial killer being the least worrisome of them. Unfortunately, doing so was a luxury that he could not afford. With every passing second, a feeling of dread grows stronger and his instincts screams for the need to find a way out, something that requires him to keep a level head.

Focus falling back on the two men, he gave them a nod as he addressed them, voice thankfully even. "Right, now that we've established our lack of information, we need to come up with a plan. There are only a few possible reasons I can think of for our situation, non of them good. We need to start moving, maybe see if there are others and find the exit as soon as possible. We should start by checking rooms, see if there is anything we can use, get the two of you something to hit with if nothing else, just in case."

Pausing to think for a second, he added almost as a side-thought "Also, no names will start to get confusing, so we should think of something to call ourselves until we remember our real names." addressing the newcomer "Unless you have better luck than us in that regard, of course." back to both of them "I'll be South, any objections to me calling you Americano, or do you have something else in mind?" he asked the first guy.

---

---

There was a shuddering, screeching noise from somewhere above the heads of the slowly awakening subjects. Then, all at once, the lights would go out totally. There was a moment of total, complete darkness and silence. Then another. Then another. Then, from somewhere within the facility, a noise would slowly build back up. It was somewhere between a thrum, chug and a roar, a steady noise that grew and grew until it finally settled down. As it did so, the lights would flick back on, but rather than the bright white, they were now a more muted yellow, tinging everything with a grimy sort of look.

An automated message would judder out. "Attention" it said, some half-destroyed processor somewhere causing it to echo an 'att' sound. "The facility is now on backup power. Do not be alarmed, the site can function on backup power for five days. Staff will be working to fix the problem. Thank you for your cooperation." The voice would repeat the message, echoes and all, one more time, before cutting off. The lifegiving sounds of the ventilation system coming back online would whirr out throughout the halls.

For a moment, that seemed to be all the disembodied, likely automated voice had to say about things, but then it would return. "Attention." It said again, the same echo following it. "Breakfast is now being served. Please make your way in a calm and orderly fashion to the canteen." It repeated the message again, much like the previous time, before shutting off for good.

Breakfast still being served? It seemed perhaps incongruent with the utter lack of anyone else around to do the serving, but perhaps this was all some sort of great misunderstanding, and the staff would, indeed, be around, like they had always been. Or, perhaps, the automated message was a vestige of a time when there had been a breakfast to be served... But that was a little more of a depressing thought.

@Bazmund

'Wait, yer door's still locked?' he asked, frowning as he realised that that was why it was still closed. It had never opened. And this guy had been trying to pick it, which meant it was a manual lock. Which meant... huuuh...

'...you know what, I might be able to help pick it from this side,' he agreed, thinking about what that might be able to do here. It had struck him that, sure, he could do it with the right tools. No idea how, and that was really pissing him off, but he could. Problem was, no tools. And yet, if that let him do it...

Immediately, he decided he didn't want anyone to know he could do that, though. The guy had mentioned "weird shit", which clearly meant he had an idea about that; no way was he going to show off to the guy, though. He could want to use that against him. That was why he hadn't slipped the collars yet, either; if the kid had seen, she might have blabbed. So, as if to warn, he said 'Er, you might wanna back off a bit, just in case the door's rigged to blow up or summin'.' Once the guy had moved far enough back to avoid seeing too much, even from a weird shallow angle, he pressed a finger against the lock-

And the entire facility shrieked a bit. Wow, that was loud. And then it went totally dark. Oh boy, fun!

...this was the time. He didn't like the collar, or the wristbands. He could get them off his wrists, at least, right? That wouldn't be noticed by anybody, right? Concentrating, he willed his hands to start... well, he could only describe it as a feeling of melting. And as some noise started building up in the background, he could honestly feel the bones in his hands turn to liquid, the meat stop being so resistant, and a few seconds later, he found he could sort of squeeze them into themselves and... yes, down they went! The noise was covered by the noise that was building up, but before he could think too hard about trying the same thing with the neck collar, the lights suddenly went back on. Yellow, now, instead of flickering white. Eugh.

'Esa fue una mierda de culo raro,' he muttered to himself, putting on half an act to make it seem like he'd been a bit... well, put off. He had, but he'd also been kind of focused on the wrist things- Jesus, that looked gross. Yeah, no, they'd definitely melted, even if it felt like he could still move them a bit. Maybe... yeah, unmelt them. Not fast, but it was happening. And he probably wouldn't get the chance to get rid of the collar now, if he could even survive his brain turning to goo like his hands, so... fuck it. Maybe later, if he could ditch these idiots.

'Sorry, man, that whole setup was distracting. Can't- can't pick locks in pitch black an' all,' he called through the door, using a foot to slide the bands off to the hinge side of the locked door as he yelled, just enough to make sure they'd be hidden behind it. 'Right, so...' His hands had mostly unmelted, but he kept one finger a bit gooey, and... eugh... pushed it into the lock... holy shit, how? What the fuck, how could he do that? That was... that was gross.

But it did the trick. Even if it felt like digging a bunch of pencils into his finger, he could force the pins to go up, to hit the right points- all at once, even. Way more effective than trying to use a normal pick. Still no idea how he knew that, but after a couple of moments, the lock clicked, turned-

'Okay, now hold on, this is the dangerous part,' he stated again, pulling the door slowly both to make a scene of the danger and to keep the lock from latching again, before pulling his goo-finger out of the lock and willing it to go back to normal as fast as possible. God, that was disturbing it look at. It was all deformed, but he could still move it, and even as he did that it flowed back to where it should be like... like butter? No, butter was way more liquidy. Lava? But lava was hot, right? Rubber? What the hell did melted rubber look like?! Fuck it, whatever, he didn't like it, and thank fuck he could turn that melting off, even if it was slow as hell. Yeah, "melting". He wasn't gonna keep calling it that, that was for fucking sure.

'...oookay, we're prolly good,' he announced once all was back where it should be, swinging the door fully open now that he had "confirmed" it wouldn't blow either of them up. 'Welcome to wherever the fuck this place is, mate. Looks like a prison to me, but then I ain't never been in a prison that let us all run around in the dark. Or that trapped lit'le girls in it. By the way, there's a lit'le girl waitin' for me somewhere back this way-' he pointed back the way he'd come, thankfully not past the door with the discarded wristbands. '-an' I'm pretty sure she's gonna be pissin' herself after that shit. Grab what you want, let's go.' Once the guy had done that, he'd start heading back in that direction, back towards the girlie in question. Ugh, if she'd run off squealing, that'd probably be blamed on him.

---

The little girl, now calling herself Dolly, smiled at the man as he nodded. She was not sure why, but in his near incapacitated state, she felt like a caretaker for someone who needed her. Soon enough her worries faded as she helped the man stand up from the bed. He was taller than she expected now that the man had straitened out from his sitting position. He almost looked as tall as Blade. Still holding his hand, Dolly led him to the door out to the hall.

“Alright, Blade asked me to help find other people.” Said Dolly, “I don’t know what’s happening, but I think Blade has an idea for what to do.” Whether he had an idea or not specifically she was not sure, but it seemed like a good idea at the time to at least find other people who might not be aware that something was wrong to begin with and collect notes. Out in the hall, she let go of the man’s hand and ran to the room across the way and checked that door. It was empty to. She looked down the hall. There were a good number of doors that lined the hall between her and her new friend and Blade

“I don’t think there are many people here.” Dolly observed. She had checked a good number of rooms, and so far, she had only found the hooded man. Speaking of which she asked “Hey, what’s your name? Do you remember? I can give you one if you can’t.” Before she could get an answer, a loud shriek came from somewhere above. The girl immediately stopped talking, and held her hands close to her chest, slightly slouched forward as if covering from something. When the scream stopped, she noticed the lights go out from down the hall, one by one until she was in total darkness.

“Blade!” she squealed, turning towards the hooded figure beside her, burying her face into his hoodie. Tears welled in her eyes as she stood there clinging to the stranger’s hoodie. The sudden shriek and lights going out had scared to the point she had nearly urinated. Even after the light came on, she was slow to release the man she had only met moments ago. She slowly opened her eyes as light filtered through driving away the darkness once again. While dim, dull, and yellow, they at least didn’t flicker much. Still holding on with as strong a grip as the little girl could muster, she took small step back and looked around the hall. She fully let go of the man when the voice announced the emergency power.

Any confidence Dolly had gained as a result of finding an ally had been severely lessened by the black out. She flinched when the second announcement called for everyone to come to breakfast. Breakfast? Dolly’s stomach growled. She was indeed hungry. So much had happened and she hadn’t even had breakfast yet. She reached down and picked up the doll she dropped during the black out. And looked down the hall where Blade had gone. He was headed her way, with another figure behind him. He seemed successful in finding someone else as well. Wiping her eyes, she waved at Blade and his new companion as they approached.

Vam couldn't blame the boy for seeming wary of her. She felt wary of everything right now with her absent memory, and she questioned if it was even wise to trust these two. If they had any answers at all though then anything was welcome. Before she could get the words out to ask, however, she was interrupted by a loud screeching, and her hands flew to her ears to cover them. The chugging sounds that followed seemed to be almost building to something, and it terrified her to think what it was. Without even thinking about it, she instinctively pulled a bone from her shoulder blade, shaped into a point, and held it out in front of her to protect herself and her new companions from whatever unseen force was coming. She wasn't sure how she knew to do that but now wasn't time to think too deeply about it.

Nothing came. The lights all turning out was almost as terrifying as anything she could've imagined coming after them though. Anything could've been in that pitch black darkness. She tried to catch her breath again and calm her now racing heart as the intercom spoke. Where was the canteen? She didn't remember, but she was hungry. Was there really food there?

"Well, I don't think we have much to work with."

Nobody knew what was going on. Nobody knew the way around. And nobody knew their own names. But at least he got someone else with him. Three minds are definitely better than one, especially when they don't know any better than you do.

One of the fellow inhabitants, let's say, began discussing how to address each other. Made sense considering they were all males, and calling each other by him and you would grow confusing fast. But what could he identify with? Something connected to him? Somewhere? He did suggest Americano, so that could work the same way. But then again...he didn't know where he came from. Ahhh...bugger.

He looked back into his own room. Ah, there could be one idea.

"If you don't mind calling me Tree. I'm sorry but I can't think of a better name."

It was as stupid as he thought it would be, but that was the first thing that came to mind when he saw the artificial tree inside his room. It reminded him that he did have some fondness with nature. He found a rather strange atmosphere when sleeping next to a tree, even though a fake one. He enjoyed the nature documentaries in his room. It is definitely something he could relate to.

Shortly, but all too suddenly, a deafening screech tore through his ear drum like they were paper. Rational thoughts collapsed, and the next thing he knew his hands were tight on his ears as he winced in the pain of sound before the entire hall went into total darkness. Absolute darkness, where he didn't even know he existed or not.

"That wasn't fun..."

What in the bloody hell...They barely knew what the hell was going on and now this happened.

The moment of confusion mixed with total blackness seemed like forever, but he'd rather enjoy that silence much more than the next bundle of confusion and fear that would be sow on him. A thump, a chug, and especially the roar. This was no human roar. This was no intelligent creature's roar. He knew nothing of what could do such a thing, but this would definitely not be a pleasant entity. And it seemed to be moving directly toward them.

'Oh no no no please.'

He wouldn't want to face whatever this thing is without seeing it beforehand.

Then the lights flickered on. Thankfully, nothing else was in sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced a worried look to his two new companies as the automatic message began playing over and over again.

"You're right. This doesn't look like a safe place to be in. We need some sort of weapon. Then we can search for the exit or barricade ourselves in."
@Vixen58@ReedeThe23rd

The boy huddled closer to his friend even as they waved to the newcomer. It looked like his friend planned on trying to communicate and the boy briefly reconsidered his plan to avoid contact. He wanted to help his friend so maybe stepping up would be a good idea? Then again talking to new people was scary and if neither the boy nor his new friend knew what was going on, what were the chances that the newcomer would? But what if he could get answers for his friend, would that make them happy? The boy’s head began to spin as he debated with himself the merits of talking or remaining silent, until he was snapped out of his head by a sudden shrieking noise from above, lasting just moments before the hallway was plunged into silence and darkness.

The boy reached to grip the hand resting upon his shoulder, clinging to it as though his friend might just disappear if he let go, which given how dark it now was didn’t seem entirely outside the realm of possibility. Up until now the boy hadn’t been particularly worried about the circumstances he’d woken up to. He hadn’t found anything strange about his environment, save for the lighting, and even then he’d chalked that up to some kind of malfunction. The lack of memories was frustrating, but even with it, everything had felt familiar to the boy. Yet as a strange thrumming noise began to build up from somewhere within the darkness, a sound wholly unfamiliar to the boy, fear and doubts finally began to creep into the boy’s mind.

Finally, the sound died down and with its departure the lights switched back on, this time bathing the hallway in a dull yellow light, still a far cry away from how the boy felt it was supposed to look but certainly much closer than it had been before. The boy noticed the newcomer was holding something that he didn’t think she had been before, but before he could examine the object his attention was instead drawn to the sound of a speaker crackling to life. A voice echoed from the speaker, making two announcements each repeated once over, providing some semblance of explanation and a set of instructions respectively.

Even if the announcement had failed to answer any of his questions, they had helped to ease the doubts forming in the boy’s mind. Tugging on his friend's arm, the boy pointed down the hallway in the direction he guessed the canteen might be. “We should go find the canteen”, he said, speaking softly. He couldn’t quite remember why but he felt that he was supposed to listen to the voices over the speaker.

@Bartimaeus@AelitaJezebelle

---

---

@BCTheEntity@Randomness@Nyxira

---

---

"What, and yours wasn't?" Justin - Klaus - Beobach turned snappily towards the latino. His mind worked fast, clicking like cogs, turning like wheels electric; this other man was surprised that his door was locked - not just locked, but still locked, implying that the others' doors had been unlocked, seemingly remotely. Why then was his a traditional manual lock?

His brow furrowed.

In the back of his mind he already knew. He could not be contained if the lock were electronic. That was what was missing - the scratching and quiet clawing against the soft tissues of his mind, that was what caused it, a lack of... connection.

The lack of a Network.

"Rigged to blow?" Justin's eyes widened, and he stepped back, following his orders.

But that too rang false. His hand went to the collar around his neck, heavy with the weight of the bands around his wrists, and he felt the hard rubber coating it between his thumb and his forefinger. Perhaps there were, or were not, explosives in this - something to discourage tampering at the very least. But why the door? He was small, little threat when so disarmed. If he tried to pick the lock then his captors would not need explosives to bring him down - and indeed, even if there were any they could not simply be triggered by... by microwave, or radio, or something - he would know if that could be done. So what, trap the door? Why even bother with a door then? That sounded like a bad idea, setting the door up to blow.

“Hey, I don-”

Then the lights went out.

“FUCK!” He shrieked, leaping half a metaphorical mile in the air, brandishing the standing lamp like a staff. He barely even noticed the other guy talking when the lights came back on.

“Fuck? Oh yeah, fuck, don’t worry man. Take your time - I don’t think the door is gonna be rigged though, friendo.”

He was, of course, right.

And when he stepped over the threshold, past the confines of the Faraday Cage he had been confined to… his mind calmed. The scratching stopped. The need was fulfilled.

He smiled, warmly and truly.

“It is… good to be free.” He almost started to laugh as the warm bath of information filled his skull again, and his brain started to float on the currents of nonsense - and nonsense it was, for the time being, just the background noise of an informatic world. “Even if I’m only a bit more free than I was two seconds ago, it’s… good.” He gave a grin to the other guy.

“Wait, a little girl? What kind of fucking…” He looked around at the walls. The other guy was right, this didn’t look like how he imagined most prisons did, either - and if they were keeping kids around, it definitely wasn’t the sort of prison anyone was publicly familiar with.

He pushed the thought from his mind.

“Wait, you’ve been to prison?”

A short walk and some tannoy bullshit later, the four Containees of the Purple Ward had been united.

“Yo, these your guys? Um, is he alright?”

@Bazmund@Randomness@Nyxira

Lotta questions. Lotta bullshit he didn't have time for. And apparently, the guy was way happier to be out of the cell than he ought to be. He was only "free" once he was out and away... but whatever. Sticks caught him on the door thing, too - and the prison thing. Shit.

'Uh... I dunno, mate, my memory is all kinds of shot,' he admitted, half the truth and half deflection to avoid the topic. 'I'm just sayin', if neck collars and kids are normal in prison, then this all-' A quick gesture around him, toward the whole prison situation. '-ain't as fucky as it ought to be.' Speaking of kids, there was the little girl again!

And some druggie. Holy fuck, it all made sense now: they weren't in a prison, they were in a loony bin! Which apparently made him a lunatic... no, that couldn't be it. He could think straight, he had his... wait. Shit. He had amnesia. He didn't know if he was mad or not. Fucking God damn it.

'Uh... the li'le girl is, yeah. Hey there.' He waved to her, glancing at the... the guy. Totally out of it, definitely on drugs. Not very pleasant to look at anyway. He had a hoodie. How the hell did he have a hoodie? Fucker was more dressed up than anyone else in the place so far. Pointing a thumb at the newbie, he said 'So this guy was still locked in 'is cell. Apparently, ours were all electronic, his was manual. I got him out no problem, though. An' this girl is... er, the li'le girl I mentioned.' He still didn't know anybody's names, even as he gestured toward her... that needed fixing. And they needed feeding, at that.

'Right, so I don't normally listen to big voices tellin' me what to do, but I'ma do what the speaker said, because I am hungry as fff- as a moth- ...I'm hungry, okay? I'm gonna get food.' As he began to walk in the general direction he, somehow, knew he should, he announced 'By the way, if you guys don't care what I call ya, you're Sticks, you're Tiny, an' he's Druggie Dougie,' pointing first to the new guy, then the girl, and then the guy in the hoodie- oh, Hoodie, that'd be way better. Well, too late for it now. The guy wasn't there enough to give his own name, anyway.