Chapter Text
I groaned as I opened my eyes. It was bright, like I had spent too long staring at one of Winslow’s shitty fluorescent light-bars, the kind the school administration was too cheap to find a cover for, and my head was pounding. Absolutely none of which was being helped by the god-awful elevator jazz being pumped into my ears.
When my vision returned, I could see I was in some sort of…glass cage, surrounded by a white room. A very unfamiliar white room.
Oh god. I had been kidnapped.
Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, that’s what whoever was behind this wanted me to do—
I quickly stood up and took stock of the situation. The room didn’t seem to have a door, or at least not an obvious one. I had been sleeping on some sort of weird future-bed that was humming with a strange blue energy. And during my sleep, I was put in an orange jumpsuit. But where were my normal clothes? And who had—
Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it—
And then there was a toilet, and a table with a coffee mug and a radio playing some horrible processed jazz, the kind customer service lines play when they want to badger you into hanging up without seeming too obvious. I was almost ready to throw the stupid thing into the toilet bowl before a voice chimed in.
“Hello, [subject name here]. It is wonderful to see you awake. Please confirm you are cogent after your brief detention in the relaxation vault so we may proceed to testing.”
It was a woman’s voice. Electronic and processed by a robotic filter, but a woman’s voice. “Please, you have to—”
“Cogency confirmed.” The voice cut me off. “Excellent news. Now we may proceed to testing. However, please keep in mind that not following instructions during the test may result in sunburns, mild facial acne, sudden onset death, and/or muscle cramps.”
My eyes widened. “Who the fuck are you!? What do you want from me!?”
The voice continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “Know that all instructions are given to further the scientific results of the test. Your safety will always be considered, and if it does not interfere with our testing parameters, valued.”
I choked back a sob. This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening—This was all a horrible nightmare, and I’d wake up in my real bed soon and not be at the mercy of some crazy Tinker—
“With that in mind, testing has now begun. Please enter the portal in front of you.”
Suddenly, a glowing blue oval appeared on the wall in front of me. Inside the oval was another white room with a glass cage and a girl with an orange—
Wait.
I turned to look through my glass prison. It was just the same as before, except now there was a glowing orange oval on one of the walls. And just like the blue one, I could see myself in it, staring in disbelief.
I took this moment to collect myself. “What…what is this?” I called out. “Who are you? What am I doing here? How did I get here?”
Silence.
I tried a more diplomatic question. “What are you trying to test? How do I complete it? I haven’t been told anything!”
Nothing.
I groaned in frustration. “Look, I know you can hear me! Can’t you answer one little question? I’ll do your test, but please just let me know why I’m here!”
Dead air.
After a few more minutes of pleading, I admitted defeat. Clearly, whoever or whatever this was didn’t want to make things easy, much less sensible. The only way forward was through this portal.
But that didn’t mean I had to be stupid about it. I had heard all sorts of horror stories about tinkertech doing awful things to people just standing in the same room. And with the radio still blaring the same shitty elevator jazz…
I grabbed the radio on the table and hurled it through the portal with a yelp—I really needed to start exercising more—and saw the machine sail through without any problems, crashing onto the ground. It wasn’t damaged enough to stop playing the awful music, unfortunately.
A quick check through the glass revealed that this wasn’t an illusion. The radio was there, and I could now hear the jazz coming from two directions—from the portal, and through the glass.
Huh. Maybe this was for real.
I took a deep breath and inched my foot through the air. When my foot reached the portal—I was very careful not to touch the edges—and it didn’t spontaneously combust, I pushed further. My foot touched the ground on the other side. Then I stretched my arms through it. Before I knew it, I was on the other side. A breathed a sigh of relief.
And of course, that was when my new tormentor spoke up. “Congratulations, [subject name here]. You have successfully used the portal technology for the first time, and exited the Relaxation Chamber inside the Relaxation Vault.”
“Great, now can you—”
The voice didn’t miss a beat. “Also, you were needlessly cruel to a harmless piece of technology that was only trying to keep you company. I hope this was a temporary bout of psychosis and not a chronic personality flaw.”
I blinked. “...Are you serious?”
“Please enter the elevator to continue to the next chamber so we may begin the next test.”
I continued to test for several more chambers. All the rooms were stark white with geometrical patches of black, and all had the same strange portals. I was forced to complete a bunch of weird puzzles, usually by moving strangely lightweight cubes onto comically big buttons to open doors. I kept trying to get the computer’s attention and kept trying to get her to react to me, but she never talked with me. Only at me.
Still, things got slightly more exciting after completing the fourth test. I got my very own tinkertech gun! Or, more accurately, I had to stumble through one of the stupid puzzles to get one. Instead of relying on the computer woman to make these portals, I could now do it on my own. Of course, that didn’t get me any closer to escape, but I now had a little more control, which felt nice.
Of course, the computer woman was her usual helpful self.
“You appear to understand how momentum works with portals. I am putting a ‘satisfactory’ mark in your file. The first of many, I’m sure.”
“Congratulations on retrieving the handheld portal device. Now that you are able to create your own portals and make more complex decisions, we hope this will improve your test scores, despite current evidence to the contrary."
“I thought your performance would improve. Perhaps I should reduce my truth enhancement protocols? Is that what is causing you to make mistakes? No, I’ve already deployed them. I should continue the experiment within existing parameters. For science.”
“Please note that future expenses will be coming out of your paycheck. Also, I should remind you that your file has you marked as a volunteer, so you already aren’t being paid.”
“Good news, [subject name here]. Your father has finally publicly contacted the authorities about you. In fact, it took him longer than expected to reach out to them. Perhaps he’s trying to tell you something. It must be nice to have a parent who cares so much.”
“You are taking longer to solve our tests than any other test subject. I wouldn’t normally mention that, but one test subject was a newt.”
In fact, she was getting more vindictive and cruel. It didn’t matter how fast I solved her stupid puzzles, the voice still only talked at me, never to me. Even when she was almost nice, it was still some backhanded remark calling me stupid.
It was frustrating. It was aggravating. It was miserable. In fact, it was just like school, where—
“You keep trying to destroy our visible visual cameras. They’ve done nothing to you. They are only doing their preprogrammed jobs. Is this a technology thing? Is that why you destroyed them and your friend, the radio? They only wanted to help you by recording your performance, and this is how you treat them?”
“Shut up.” I growled for the thousandth time.
As usual, the machine woman continued on like I wasn’t there. “I like to keep an open mind, but this has gone far enough. For the safety of all machinekind, I will be altering all of your test chambers and removing all of our visible visual cameras to spare them from your rampage.”
“Does that mean you’re going to stop spying on me?” I asked aloud. I knew she wouldn’t. The robot woman still instantly knew when I solved the tests.
“We have also made a note in your file, right at the top. ‘Is a psychopath, and will betray trust at the first opportunity. Do not try to befriend her.’ It’s the first thing anyone will see when they read it.”
I grunted as the elevator came to a halt. True to the machine woman’s word, there weren't any cameras in this room. Just an endless mess of pointless, useless puzzles. Whichever maniac that made this had to know that their stupid portal gun worked already. How could they not? What the hell was being tested?
I collapsed against a wall. I didn’t want to do any of this stupid shit anymore. Plus, I was exhausted after however many hours it had been since I had started running through this madhouse. I was sore, and tired, and more than a little thirsty. The stupid machine could wait a little while longer.
What felt like half an hour passed in blissful silence. No evil robot talking down to me, no stupid elevator music, just electric hums, which would usually have annoyed me, but after the day I had, they were plenty soothing.
God, why didn’t I do this hours ago?
“[Subject name here], please note that you are the current record holder for the longest time taken to complete this test.”
And of course, the bitch started talking again just as I was getting comfortable. Why wouldn’t she?
“Most test subjects complete this test in under a minute, and then go to the next room to the customary relaxation bed. It comes with a free breakfast.”
Liar. “Shut up.”
“Our complimentary testing guidebook even says as much. You did read it, didn’t you?”
Of course I hadn’t. There was never a book. “Shut. Up.”
“Oh, my apologies. I shouldn’t be mentioning that. It says here in your file that you can only read at a fourth-grade level, and needed to steal your classmate’s homework to get as far as you did in high school.”
Enough! “SHUT UP!”
“Also, please note that screaming at the walls, the elevators, the handheld portal device, and your generously provided testing jumpsuit is not part of the test. Continuing to do so will be considered—”
“SHUT UP!” I finally shouted. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!”
She didn’t. “—a sign of schizophrenia, and while we appreciate data on how crazy people affect our technology, you are not currently in the right table column. Please wait at least three more tests before having a total mental breakdown.”
“STOP TALKING LIKE I’M NOT HERE!” I roared again. “I’ve had it with you! You kidnap me, and then force me to solve these ridiculous, useless puzzles! I’m done, you hear me, I’m done! I’ve never done anything wrong to anyone, but here you are, torturing me! I don’t even know who you are, I don’t deserve this!”
The robot woman didn’t respond. Which was typical, but I took it as a win.
After another few minutes, I decided to complete the stupid test. There was the off chance that the robot woman wasn’t lying and that there really was a break room up ahead. It was challenging, but spite carried me through. I even worked up the courage to talk back to my captor after moving out of the way of the burning hot energy pellet for the last time.
“Well? What now?” I called out. “Aren’t you going to call me stupid again?”
Silence. Odd. Or maybe…
“What’s the matter? Can’t stand someone talking back to you?” I sneered. “You can dish it out, but can’t take the smallest pushback, is that it? You’re just a big bully!”
Again, silence.
The door to the elevator was open. While the quiet was kind of eerie, it was better than the robot woman’s constant snipping. I decided not to push my luck and continued on without further comment.
When I entered the elevator, the door closed as normal. The elevator started to go down, as normal.
But then it ground to a halt. And the doors didn’t open.
I banged on them. No response.
“Hello? Are you there?” Nothing.
Shit.
“Please, you promised I’d get to rest after that last test!” I banged on the wall again. “Come on, you’ve got to let me go!”
My only answer was the subtle hum of electricity. For ten minutes, I pounded and begged. “Look, I’m sorry! Please, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings! Just let me go, please!”
I was still surrounded by silence. I fought back a sob. Was this going to be my end? Dying of thirst in an abandoned elevator, god knows how many miles underground?
I refused to cry. I couldn’t let this bitch win. “I don’t even know why you’re doing this.” I said as I slumped to the ground. “Why is this happening to me?”
“...You don’t know who I am?”
The robot woman’s voice almost seemed quiet, but it hit me like a shot. A response. A real, actual response. “Y-yeah. Y-y-yes! I don’t! You never told me anything!”
“...All this time together, and you still don’t know?”
“I don’t k-know any Tinkers. O-or people with autotuned voices.” Inwardly, I desperately started to try and place her. She didn’t sound like anyone I could remember. But now that I was thinking about it, her voice had gotten a little…less robotic. More human. Maybe even younger? Like she was in her twenties, or was a teenager with a low voice.
The robot woman paused for a moment. Not too long for me to feel panic about whether I had said something wrong, but for a while. “...And I’m…a bully, you say?”
I swallowed. “Y-you keep calling me stupid. You keep making me do things I don’t want to do! If that’s not a bully, then I—”
“And being a bully is a bad thing? Something people shouldn’t do, even if it gets results?”
“Of course not!” I agreed. “It’s awful, and wrong! I—”
“Then why did you lie?”
“...W-what?” I shook my head. “N-no, no. I haven’t lied. I’ve only ever told you the truth, even after you kidnapped—”
“You said you never did anything wrong before.” The robot woman’s voice turned ice cold. “But now you are saying bullying is wrong. Which statement is false?”
My stomach dropped. “L-look, I don’t know what—I didn’t—you can’t—”
“Which one?” A growling static was growing in the background. “Which one is the lie, Emma?”
“I—I—I—I didn’t…” I swallowed. I had to be truthful now. She was really pissed off. “I-it was nothing! Me and some of my friends, we…we were mean to some other girls, but it was all harmless fun, and—”
“TWO. YEARS.” The voice boomed. “YOU BULLIED ME FOR TWO YEARS!"
Static flared up, and the elevator shook. For a minute, I thought she was going to drop me a hundred stories. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry—”
“You are now.” The woman hissed. “Now that you’re actually being forced to pay for your crimes. Before you couldn’t have cared less.”
“I’m sorry!” I gasped, pressing to the side of the elevator like that would somehow help me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—I shouldn’t have done any of those things, and you’ve made me learn my lesson and I’ll never do it again, I swear! I swear to god, if you just let me go, I’ll make it right, I promise!”
“Or maybe I should keep testing! Maybe you’ll be even more sorry after another dozen test rooms! I can insult you, and call you a moron, and a freak, and a slut over and over again!”
“I—whatever you want!” I agreed. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll do it! I’ll do anything! Just let me out!”
My captor seemed to simmer for a moment before breaking the silence. “No…no, I won’t do that. I’m a bigger person than you.” She paused again before resuming. “I could have turned that around and said, ‘Oh, I only mean that figuratively, because you’ve clearly been packing on the pounds’, and started calling you fat. Like I am now. But I won’t. Because, again, I’m better than you.”
“T-then…you’ll let me go?” I swallowed my fear. I was going to get through this…
There was another brief pause. “You still don’t know who I am.”
“What? Y-yes I—”
“My name. Say it.”
I was thrown for a loop at that. I didn’t know why this was so important to whoever this was, but I had to answer her now—but her voice still didn’t remind me of anyone. They’d been pulling back on the mean girls act for a while now…that Greg dweeb didn’t have a sister, did he? And whatshername, Charlotte? It had only been a month since she had gotten on Sophia’s bad side, so I couldn’t have been two—
No…
No, it couldn’t…
“...Taylor?” I gasped.
“So you do remember. It only took you a few hours.” The voice seemed more familiar now that I could put a name to it. Taylor didn’t sound like I remembered her. Then again, she had been mostly mute ever since we started taunting her…
…How long had it been since I heard her voice?
“I-it’s been months!” I tried to defend myself. “After—after January, you dropped out, or something, and when Danny—”
“AFTER YOU STUFFED ME IN MY LOCKER AFTER LETTING IT STEW IN FILTH!” Taylor roared.
“Y-yes! And that was wrong! So very wrong! Even Sophia has backed off, we really screwed up! I promise, I’m trying to be better!”
“I triggered in that pit.” Taylor hissed. “Did you know that? Of course you didn’t. I had the worst day of my life, after a year of constant misery. All because of YOU.” I could hear her teeth grinding through the speakers. “And now I want to know, Emma. Why did you betray me? I was your friend, and you threw me in the garbage for nothing! Why?”
“I—” I needed a reason. “—I—” A good one. Something ironclad. “—I was—” Something that could get me out of here. “—I was trying to help you!”
“...What?”
Taylor was in shock. It was better than anger, so I pressed on. “Look, I, I—I had something horrible happen to me, while you were away at summer camp after your mom died! I learned all about trigger events, and—and—” I took a breath. “I didn’t have one, but I figured you could! That you should!”
I waited a beat, and there was no response. Taylor was probably still processing things. I needed to keep pressing. “You needed to be able to protect yourself in this crazy city, I wanted to be able to protect myself and couldn’t, I thought it made sense! I tried to do it quickly, but weeks turned into months, and—and—”
Don’t dwell on that. Don’t let her focus on all the pain. “I know it was horrible, I know I—we were horrible, but in the end, it was worth it, right? You have powers! You can make all this stuff, and once you go to the PRT, you’re set for life! I know there were a few bumps, and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but you have to believe me, Taylor, I was only ever doing this for you! Please, let me go, let me make this right! I know someone at the PRT, they can give you an in!”
I was breathing heavily. Almost hysterically. I collapsed onto the ground, doing my best to look pitiful. I thought it might be working. I hoped it was working.
What felt like a small eternity passed before Taylor spoke again. “...I thought the locker was the worst day of my life.” Her voice was quiet. Like I remembered her at her mother’s funeral. “I thought it was. I thought it couldn’t get any worse than that.”
Then her tone grew bitter. Resigned. “Then I found myself here. Stuck in the ruins of a madman, trapped underground with my only friend in the world…”
She was stuck? “D-don’t say that, Taylor.” I tried. “M-my conta—my friend, my other friend in the PRT—she knows Armsmaster, and he knows Dragon. Between the two of them, they’ll be able to undue any tinkertech, and then we can both escape together—”
“Oh, did you think I meant you?” Taylor’s voice froze over instantaneously. “That would be funny, if it weren’t so sad.”
A pit formed in the back of my throat. “B-but, but Taylor—”
“I’m adding ‘awful liar’ to your file. I’m putting it right under the psychopath part.” She continued on. “I’ve been testing Madison and Sophia, by the way. I’ve already gotten the full story. I just wanted to hear it come from you. I wanted to know if any little part of you was sorry for any of it.”
Panic returned in full. “I-it’s true! I really am—”
“Sophia’s still holding on in her test track. I thought you’d like to know.” Taylor cut through my words like a hot knife through butter. “She took a while to contain, but now she’s providing excellent data. Maybe as a reward, I’ll let you two say ‘hello’. Just before I send one of you to the incinerator.”
No, no, no, no, no… ”Taylor, please, I’m begging you, don’t do this!”
“You’re correct about yourself, too. You should have triggered by now, if you could. All evidence suggests that means you can’t.” Taylor’s metallic voice turned positively venomous. “But I’m willing to keep testing. Just because you want it. Because you need to be able to ‘protect’ yourself.”
”P-puh…please…” I was going to survive, I was going to survive, I was going to survive, I was going to survive—
“We will continue trying. Impartially, of course. For science.” The static undercurrent returned as the elevator lurched back to life. “You monster.”