“If I stated that this is the most ludicrous and absurd idea I’ve ever heard would it do anything to dissuade you?” Todd asked.
“No.” Jun replied.
“Then I would like to at least go on record and make my stance official.”
“I believe you did that when you printed out the blueprints, the entire trip to the suspension room, and from the start of this elevator ride.”
“And yet here we are.”
“Here we are.” Jun said as the elevator doors slid open. Todd’s headed jerked back at the sight of the In School Suspension Facility.
The overhead lighting was brighter that Todd expected, with rows and rows of florescent bulbs in the ceiling. The walls were a sterile grey steel, broken up with navy blue panelling. The pewter floors were lined with small lights and reflected the ceiling.
A lone cart sat off to the side. It was enclosed with various snacks and food trays on top. Jun removed the top, the snacks and trays apparently attached to it, and dropped his book bag in before jumping in after.
“This is unreal.”
“There’s no cell service and so I installed a map complete with voice instructions.” Jun said. Todd patted his jeans pocket.
“You did what?”
“With your lax security? You should be glad that’s only thing I did. Unrelated: no matter the reason, cropping Ivan out of those photos is just weird.” Jun said as he closed the lid. The elevators doors opened and the girl who delivered the art piece the day before walked out. She wore a name badge with trainee written in marker, and without a word, pushed the cart away from Todd and down the hall.
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Jun’s leg cramped as the cart rolled along to the ISS rooms. There was only one busy body who bothered to ask why a food delivery was being done so long after lunch. Fortunately, from all of Todd’s rambling and whining, Jun managed to gleam some useful information: peanut butter allergies were afforded all sorts of exceptions. A guilt laden excuse from the girl pushing the cart later, and Jun was back on track. A reluctant smile formed as the cart slowed to stop. An entire summer of planning, made to feel longer as communication slowed towards the fall, had finally paid off. This would lead to even bigger moments going forward; he’d finally be back with someone capable. Jun tugged at his jacket collar and grimaced as Todd came to mind.
A pound on the side of the cart broke his thoughts and Jun pushed up the cart lid. He climbed over the side and grabbed his book bag. A few students glanced at him from their rooms, but most ignored him in favor schoolwork. Jun knocked on the window of the closest room. An older boy with short, white hair, carefully slid his chair back his desk and walked over to the window. He sneezed then blew his nose as he looked at Jun.
“I wondered when you’d get here.” he said.
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OBJECTIVE: Reach Terminal One. Kill power.
Todd let the audio instructions play out, and pulled up the map; it did a surprisingly good job of allowing Todd to get his bearings, despite being a static map. From the moment they left the records room, Todd had been impressed with how focused Jun seemed. Granted, Todd only met him the day before, and still didn’t know his last name, but Jun’s attitude was a complete one-eighty; it actually made Todd think there might be hope for his academic future.
The voice memo mentioned he needed to get his task done quick enough to arrive at the meeting time or be left behind. Todd felt the creeping hand of stress crawl up his back; this was why he hated timed levels in video games.
The actual trip to the terminal went a lot smoother than expected; Todd never ran into another person. When he arrived at his destination, Todd came to a narrow alcove with a complete computer terminal set into the wall. Attached to the wall nearest the entrance was a keypad. Todd look up and down for a door or something the keypad should have controlled, but he only saw tan, concrete walls.
Todd shrugged and took one step into the corridor, then heard a quick beep come from the floor. He looked down and saw a red beam of light broken by his ankle. Todd heard the sound of grinding stone and saw a concrete square slide backwards. A small, metallic cylinder appeared in its place.
A red rubber ball the size of a small pumpkin shot out of the canon. Faster than he could track, the ball ricocheted off the walls until Todd was hit square in the face. The cannon receded and Todd rubbed the sort spot above his eye. “Okay.” Todd said. He waited until he found the sensor just above the ground and stepped over where line would have been. Todd lifted his head, satisfied, until he heard another beeping noise. At the other end of the alcove, another cylinder pointed directly at him. Todd sighed then closed his eyes. “Son of a-”
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“Where are the others?” the boy asked.
“Wherever you point me to. Running a solo operation here.” Jun said.
“You put this whole thing together?” the boy asked. Jun waved him off. “That means it should start falling apart any minute now.” the boy said. He and Jun laughed.
“Finn, who got us trapped in an abandoned mall again?”
“Was I wrong about finding another Myst in there? I never promised that it would be friendly. Or human.”
“I’m hoping Kaz is next up.” Jun said. “Between you two, we’ll get everyone in no time.” The lights went out. A blue glow around the door pierced the darkness, to match the color emitting from Jun. A chorus of door locks disengaging then instantly reactivating echoed in the hallway. The door to Finn’s room whirred as it struggled to move. Jun closed his eyes and as the glow dissipated, the lock sprung back and forth repeatedly, the broke down. Finn stepped out of the room just as the auxiliary lights turned on.
“Lead on.” he said.
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OBJECTIVE: Meet with Beulah and disable air system.
Todd’s body ached, and a long with multiple red spots, he was sure the dodge ball’s logo was imprinted somewhere on his body. None of that pain, however, compared to the experience of trying to work with Beulah.
“I believe the sentiment revolved around how poorly the school was cleaned over summer.” she said as she blocked the entrance to the maintenance room. Jun’s contact was a custodian; a group which apparently held a grudge towards Todd.
“And I apologize. Like I said, I was under a lot of stress-” Beulah held up her hand.
“Enough whining. I’ve been authorized to help if you meet two conditions: first, your price is doubled-”
“When you say the word ‘your’, you mean Jun right? Right?”
“Second, you must complete the custodian’s quest.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“I don’t have a lot of time for side activities.” Todd said.
“If custodian help you implore, answer correctly questions one through four.” Beulah said. “This month is on musicals. No phones.” Todd exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Beulah cleared her throat. “Question the first.”
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Jun finished removing the last screw and carefully lifted the slotted vent cover. He put his hand inside and rotated it back and forth, then opened the book bag and took out various plastic containers. Finn fanned himself with his t-shirt.
“I can’t believe you found someone good enough to pull this off. Sounds like we’re getting replaced. Maybe it’s not the worst thing.” he said with an odd chuckle.
“You’re more useful locked up than Todd Stewart could be in a million years. He means well, just very incompetent. You aren’t totally wrong though, in a way, he’s your replacement.” Finn raised an eyebrow as Jun finished dumping the containers into the vent.
“Jun, listen-” Finn stopped when the door at the other end of the hallway opened.
“See? Incompetent.” Jun said. Finn grabbed pointed at the vent. Jun carefully put the vent cover back on and Finn pointed at the brown scarabs climbing along the walls.
“Madagascar Stink Bugs? This is a break out, not demolition.” Finn hissed.
“Untraceable, organic, and extremely potent. They were the best option I could come up with.”
“That’s Leon talking. Reckless as always.”
“Effective as always. As long as we’re out by the time the air kicks on, we’re good.” Jun said. The vent rumbled. “We should go. Now.”
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OBJECTIVE: Retrieve KEY from Pet Master or Guard Station. Be on watch for Fluffy.
“I don’t care who hears me.” Todd said. He looked over his shoulder then lowered his voice “I hate custodians.” He spoke over Jun’s voice memo, but was in such a bad mood, he didn’t care. He would need to thank his mom for dragging him to all those shows growing up, but he still barely passed. “I can’t wait to take her team down on trivia night.” Todd said.
The hallway reached a dead end, and according to the map, left lead to the Pet Master’s room and right to the guard’s station. Todd looked at the amateur drawing of a dog labelled Fluffy near the Guard’s Station. “Guaranteed Fluffy is ironic. Not falling for that.” Todd said as he took the hall to the left.
When Todd arrived at the Pet Master’s kennel he noticed a life sized cut out of Hedgey the Fillmore mascot and a paper clock attached to the door with a hand written note. “Feeding time. Come back later.” Todd read aloud. The hands on the clock were hung broken above the six and the Hedgey cut out had various puncture holes all along the edges.
The room was pitch black room when Todd walked inside. As he blindly searched for a light switch, Todd heard an noise; it was mixture of quick breathing and gnawing. He found the light and nearly jumped when he flicked it on; seven tall metal shelving units, filled with hamsters. Todd touched his heart as his eyes adjusted. “Whew.” he said. Across the room, one of the hamsters’ heads snapped upward and stared at Todd with dark red pupils. It made a chittering noise and the others began to stir, one by one. Todd squinted and noticed the red stains on the fur around the mouth of each hamster. He backed up to the door. “Uh nice hamster?” his voice broke.
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“We’ll be fine.” Jun said as he and Finn crawled through the vents. “Once the fans go down, the backup system warms up then it kicks on fifteen minutes later.”
“Is that fifteen minutes and the fans start or the system starts and then fifteen minutes later the fans blow?” Finn asked. Jun bumped his head on the vent ceiling.
“It’s...let’s just pick up the pace.”
“Is Todd like us?” Finn asked.
“Yeah, if we had zero skills and no powers.”
“I’m serious.”
“Me too. You have no idea how glad I’ll be to work with, well anyone but him.”
“I’m sure he’s fine when it comes to actual important facets of life.”
“Want to be his best friend? Be my guest, but you’ll have to deal with his peanut allergy or whatever.”
“I’m more asking because I’ve sensed-” Jun held his hand up to stop Finn.
“We might have to drop here and make a dash.” he said.
“How many in the room?” Finn asked.
“Your incompetent best friend was supposed to draw everyone away, instead we’ve got about four people down there.”
“Stealth is overrated.” Finn said.
“One three, follow me, heavy and fast. One....two...” Jun stopped when several staff members ran underneath the vent.
“What happened?” Finn whispered. Jun watched a couple stragglers run by, then carefully removed the vent cover. He slowly lowered his head into the room.
“Huh. Guess he did it.” Jun said.
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OBJECTIVE: Rendezvous at meeting spot
Todd slammed the door bent over to catch his breath. His arms were scratched up and his hand had several bite marks. There were tears in his clothes and a drop of blood fell from his ear. Todd threw the duffel bag to the ground and pulled his phone out. Further directives or not, he was getting out of this madhouse. Todd felt an odd sensation around his neck and nearly screamed when he plucked a baby hamster from under his shirt. He set it down to shoo it away, but when the hamster got a few feet from the door, an alarm blared. That was when Todd noticed the tiny collar around its neck and accompanying blinking light.
Todd’s shoulders sagged as he heard footsteps approach from the direction he needed to take to the meeting spot. He looked at the ground then the duffel bag. He pursed his lips. “Desperate times” he said as he unzipped the bag.
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“How much longer?” Finn asked as he and Jun stopped to peer around a corner.
“Probably minutes until the stink starts.”
“I meant until your buddy arrives.”
“He’s not that skilled so probably a few minutes plus.” Jun replied. He motioned and the pair ran down the hallway.
“You should be thankful to have a connection to a life outside of this.” Finn said.
“I’m not sure you could call what he does living.” Jun said.
“I’m serious. You ever consider what you’d do after the end?” Finn asked.
“Leon never asked. He’d probably go to Kaz or Sierra first for that.” Jun replied. They slowed down as they reached an open area. Ahead was a hallway that lead to more suspension rooms, but Jun and Finn stopped next to an emergency door.
“No, Jun. What do you want outside of this. You. Not what Leon wants. Don’t say another mission.”
“I figured I’d hang with you guys.”
“We don’t hang Jun. The other kids in those rooms, they hang. They have curfews, and homework, dances, life. We have another mission. We have this.” Finn said. His voice was strained to control the anger.
“We have each other.” Jun said.
“Look around Jun. It’s just us, nobody came with you. I spoke to Leon, last year. Because he thought I sense a powerful Myst. There’s been nothing since.”
“What are you saying?” Jun asked. His nostrils started to flare.
“I’m not going with you.” Finn said.
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“You really thought we wouldn’t notice?” A man in a red polo said. He was at the head of a large crowd made up of other people in a similar shirts and few guards. “Someone get Cindy down here quick!” Todd gulped as a trickle of sweat ran down his back.
“I was hoping you’d notice.” Someone shouted behind Todd. It was an older woman, also sporting a red polo. “I’m tired of waiting until the game Friday, someone needs to take you down a peg.” the group she was with cheered.
Todd always felt envious at the civic pride displayed by the residents in his town. He never had time for such things, but it painted such a wonderfully quaint picture. Caught between rival passions for Fillmore and their arch rival across town, Todd no longer wanted any part of school spirit. When Jun showed him the mascot costume inside of the duffel bag, Todd knew it in his bones that it would lead to trouble. He didn’t predict that his attempt to get past the guards who answered the alarm would lead to being forced to dance for fans of Hedgey and subsequently a near brawl when rival fans arrived, but Todd expected trouble all the same.
“I haven’t felt this excited since ‘72 when we took state!” a woman shouted.
“I’m going to make you feel like you did in ‘71.” A man behind Todd yelled. Todd faced the rival crowd to try and plead for sanity.
“School rumble!” someone shouted. Todd turned around just in time to see the stampeding crowd head right at him.
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“What did you just say?” Jun asked. Finn folded his arms.
“I’m not going with you.” he said. Jun tightened his lips and clenched his jaw. “I’ve far felt better down here, than I ever did running around like a divining rod for Mysts.”
“After what they did to us? To Leon, me, you, Kaz, Sierra-”
“When does it end? When do we get our lives? Last week, my neighbor was worried his grades wouldn’t be high enough for his parents to take him to Taco Canyon. Have you ever had Taco Canyon? It’s delicious. Do you know what he wasn’t worried about? Fighting the gremlin that corrupts save files.”
“Hey that gremlin start the fight, not us. I can’t believe you’re abandoning us. I pulled out all the stops to get you. I was going to get everyone.”
“Exactly. You did that Jun. You still have a good heart. You have the greatest potential to be better than what we were made. Don’t squander that.”
“They got to you didn’t they?” Jun asked. In a flash Finn grabbed him by the jacket.
“Watch your tone. My suspension will be up soon and I’m turning the corner. They determined what I could do. They won’t determine what I can be.” Finn let go of Jun and sneezed. He turned around just as Todd came around the corner.
“Sorry I’m late.” Todd said, out of breath.
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“Todd Stewart, why are you late and why do you look so terrible?” Jun asked. Todd had a dark mark around his eye and his shirt was ripped even further; one of the mascot legs was missing and showed his torn up jeans. Todd pointed in the direction he came then let his arm drop.
“No reason.” he said, breathless. All three looked up as they heard the sound of the air conditioning start.
“You must be the acclaimed Todd Stewart.” Finn said. Todd perked up.
“I don’t know about acclaimed, but I did score the highest on-”
“You have the key or not?” Jun asked. Todd fished the key out of his partially torn pocket.
“Whoa. Pet Master’s key?” Finn asked.
“Is it the wrong one?” Todd asked.
“No. Just class pets are a different breed.” Finn said.
“Better than being mauled by Fluffy.” Todd replied with air quotes. Finn and Jun looked at each other.
“I mean, the dog’s very affectionate it, but I wouldn’t call it mauling.” Jun said.
“Affectionate?” Todd asked.
“Yeah, Fluffy is a sheepdog, loves a good belly rub.” Finn said.
“Why would you say watch out?” Todd asked.
“Very easy to get distracted handing out treats. It would have wasted time.” Jun said.
“He’s a very good boy.” Finn added. “But you took the hard road. What’d they have in that room?”
“Hamsters.” Todd said. Jun and Finn both sucked wind through their teeth.
“Little monsters. Respect.” Finn said. He lightly punched Todd in the shoulder and Todd almost collapsed. Jun pulled a couple of gas masks out of his book bag and held one toward Finn.
“Where’s mine? And please tell me this just for effect.” Todd asked. Jun pointed towards the hall of suspension rooms.
“Down there. We have to make separate routes to avoid detection. Just keep walking for awhile you’ll eventually it and a way out.”
“Actually, you can have mine.” Finn said. He stared at Jun for a moment then extended his hand. “Finn.” Todd shook his hand, then narrowed his eyes. Finn made a slashing motion under his chin.
“No.” Jun said. “It’s for you. Todd, your mask is down the hall. Let’s go.”
“Okay.” Finn said. He took the mask from Jun then walked towards the hallway. He smacked the mask against the glass on the doors. As they cracked and alarm started and the room was bathed in red light. Finn toss the mask back at Todd, which Jun had to catch.
Finn nodded then walked towards the doors leading to another hallway of suspension rooms. Todd felt cold air.
“What’s happening?” Todd yelled. Jun stared, his mouth open, but no words came out. His lip briefly quivered.
“Leave without me, or stay with me.” Finn yelled. Todd felt cold air, then wrinkled his nose.
“Do you smell that?” he asked. Jun didn’t turn, he continued to stare at Finn. “That buzzing. I think it’s hall monitors, we have to go!” Todd yelled. He grabbed Jun’s shoulder.
Jun handed the second gas mask to Todd and put on his own. Jun took out the key and placed it into the emergency door lock. He shoved the door and motioned for Todd to head outside. He looked back inside as the hall monitors descended on Finn, then let the door slam shut.