The Owner took a breath of relief.
Not far away from him, still on the second floor, stood Gadreel. The Angel was still awake and alive, but he didn't look too well. Even now, as Gadreel was standing there, his eyes were shining in blinding light. His celestial powers lashed out across the open space all around him, turning the entire second floor into a giant wreckage. Even the Owner was forced to back off away from him just to stay alive.
When Katie and Gadreel first laid waste to the Owner’s forces and wiped out his prized collection, the Owner was indeed out of tricks...almost.
One of his past customers was a sorcerer. An especially powerful one, in fact. That sorcerer had spent decades refining his skills in the art of deceptions and hallucinations. A few years after Crypt Entertainment was created, the sorcerer found his way to the Owner and struck a deal with him. In exchange for a chance to study the ins and outs of the cinema, the sorcerer offered the Owner a hallucination matrix.
The hallucination matrix was useful and useless at the same time. It was useful in that it could fool almost anyone, supernatural or not. As long as the matrix was in action, it could deceive all senses of the victim. Not only so, it could automatically reach into the heads of the victims and extract what they were most afraid of and use this information against the victims.
The hallucination matrix by itself had little means to hurt its victims directly. It couldn’t tear its victims apart piece by piece, and nor could it crush its victims alive with brute force. What it could do was make the victims think they were stabbed in the neck or their bodies were covered in spiders. This might not actually be the case in reality, but if this was what the victims saw, heard, smelled, touched, and felt, then it might as well be true. In most cases, the victims would scare themselves to death.
By that logic, this hallucination matrix should be a deadly weapon. So why didn't the Owner use it as soon as the pair arrived? Well...these were the same reasons that made the matrix less than perfect. If the matrix was perfect, then the sorcerer wouldn’t have made the trade in the first place.
First of all, the matrix couldn’t differentiate between enemies and friends. The only one that could be exempted from its effects was its user. In this case, it was the Owner. This meant a combined arms attempt would backfire dramatically, and the Owner's own wraiths and living corpses would only divert the firepower of the matrix.
What made things worse was that the matrix took time to be deployed, and its deployment was far from covert. If at any point during the deployment, or if the matrix was already activated at a certain location, then Katie or Gadreel could realize something was up. Then, they could’ve easily retreated to the first floor and waited for the matrix to run out of power. At that point, the Owner would truly be hopeless.
But the Owner was smart. He didn't direct years of operation for Crypt Entertainment by being a fool. He keenly noticed that Gadreel was, indeed, an Angel. And from the things he did when he first entered the cinema, he was a self-preserving one. Yes...insulting him via Aaron was a stupid move on his part that almost got him killed, but he still had a chance to make a comeback.
So the Owner lied. The best lies were the ones that mostly consisted of truth. Just as the pair was about to advance onto the third floor, the Owner got down to them first. Everything he told them about Crypt Entertainment was true. Theoretically speaking, his offer could work. However, the Owner never intended on working for Gadreel, nor could he tolerate the idea of a real surrender. No...all the talks of peace were no more than a distraction aimed at keeping Gadreel’s attention occupied from the real danger.
The plan worked. Gadreel was too tempted by the prospect of leading an army of supernatural monsters that his guard for the surroundings was significantly lowered. As far as the Angel could see, the Owner’s forces were terminated, and killing him was just a matter of deciding to do it. Everything went according to the plan as the Owner finally managed to spring the trap and throw the Angel in a field of hallucinations.
Of course, in a sense, the plan didn't go that perfectly. At one point, the girl beside Gadreel suddenly wanted to kill him regardless of his offer, but it was too late on her part. The matrix was already deployed, and the Owner the pair was talking to had been a hallucination for quite a while. Katie’s assassination attempt failed as both of them were consumed in the hallucinations.
Finally, as Gadreel’s furious screams filled the floor, the Owner found himself taking a slight breath of relief. Honestly, the fact was that none of this needed to happen. If he didn't decide to try to show the Angel who was boss, then Gadreel would’ve watched everyone else die and then proceeded to leave the cinema. The Owner’s collection would still be there. His army of wraiths would’ve survived. Instead, because he decided to be an arrogant prick, the Owner almost lost everything.
Thankfully, everything turned out well.
The Owner’s eyes landed on Gadreel from a safe distance away. The Angel was already driven half-mad by the hallucinations. The Owner didn't know what the matrix made him see, but it was clear he wouldn’t last too long. He was exhausting his powers striking down at the ground around him in utter desperation, and he did do the damage. Unfortunately, as far as the Angel himself could sense, his resistance was useless, and the hallucinations just kept on coming.
He could destroy the entire second floor, but as long as the Owner lived, the hallucinations wouldn’t stop. And Gadreel...he didn't have too much time left.
“The grace of an Angel...should be enough to recover some of my losses.” This thought made the Owner feel a little better. Just a little. Turning his attention away from the hopeless Angel, the Owner moved onto his second victim.
Katie Lockwood.
Katie was placed under the hallucination as well. She was still standing on the second floor, not far away from Gadreel, but she could see neither the Owner nor Gadreel. Her senses were completely altered by the hallucination matrix.
The Owner stood there for a while, expecting Katie to start screaming or crying or begging like the Angel beside her. But...but that didn't seem to be happening. There was little reaction from Katie. She didn't seem to be tormented from the hallucinations. Instead, she seemed to be...talking?
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This made the Owner a little confused, which was why he closed his eyes and accessed the hallucination matrix. He wanted to see what the matrix was doing to Katie...and why it was achieving a damn load of nothing.
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When the surroundings started shifting and Katie found herself under the effects of the hallucination matrix, she couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Come on, Gadreel...yes, you are so smart and so cautious, but this smartness and caution are all predictable! You should learn from me! I do what I want, and no one can trick me into doing anything! If it’s up to me, that producer guy is probably dead already!
Instead, thanks to your ‘wise’ calls, we are in some sort of...movie? Hallucination? Trap?
As the world around her finally settled down, Katie found herself standing inside a...a bedroom?
Correction, a master bedroom. Katie slowly made her way around the room...or so she thought. In reality, the hallucination matrix altered her sense of direction, causing her to walk in circles on the second floor so she wouldn't leave the area of influence of the matrix by accident.
The bedroom was really well-decorated. In the middle of the room was, well, a bed. Katie suspected it was at least King’s size. There were counters on either side of the bed, with a small bathroom connected to the bedroom. The curtains were all opened across the windows, letting bright sunlight into the room. But what really caught Katie’s eyes was a framed picture on the counter.
In the picture...were two women.
One of them was a brunette. She was a lot older and looked a lot more mature, but it didn't take Katie too long to see that the brunette was, in fact, her. Rather, it was what she would look like ten to twenty years away from now. Despite the smile on her cheeks, she still had a fierce look in her eyes.
Right beside Katie was another familiar figure. Her long blonde hair covered her bare shoulders. She had a warm smile on...a smile! It was something that Katie hadn’t seen on her for a long, long time. For once, she was happy. She was a lot older than when Katie last saw her, but Katie swore the years only made her all the more pretty.
Both girls were wearing white wedding dresses.
The second girl was Caitlin. At a point in the future, Katie married Caitlin, and the two of them, Katie and Caitlin Lockwood, lived happily ever after.
Katie wasn’t a fool. She knew what was going on here. Yes. This was some sort of movie or hallucination. What she just saw was nothing more than a cheap facade, designed to kill her. She knew it for a fact. But...but as she stared into Caitlin’s smile in the wedding picture, she realized none of that mattered.
By the looks of it, in this world, Mr. Isaac never existed. The twisted games were never played. The two girls went from high school to college to the workforce. As far as Katie could see, everything turned out well, and ten years later, the two of them were living together in a big, comfortable mansion.
This was perhaps not what Katie’s vision of a perfect world was, but it definitely belonged to Caitlin’s vision. And honestly, Katie didn't care. All she wanted to do was stare into Caitlin’s eyes one last time. To cuddle her and feel her warmth. To hear Caitlin call out her name. For that, she would do anything.
There was a knock on the bedroom door.
Katie’s hand shook.
Come on, Katie! Inside her brain, her logical side called out to her anxiously. You are likely still in that Crypt Entertainment cinema! The enemies may be converging on you as you speak! Go on...grab a knife or something and stick it into your chest! The pain will give you power and increase your resilience and maybe help you break out of this trap! If you get trapped here...who knows what the movie producer will do to you!
But, like so many times before, Katie ignored logic. She had always been an emotional person, and she would continue to be one in the foreseeable future. Instead, with barely any hesitance, she reached for the doorknob.
Even as she moved, Katie knew what was going to happen. She couldn’t resist Caitlin’s temptations even without seeing her, so if she was confronted with the girl herself, even if it was no more than a fake...she would fall completely! She would lose whatever chance she once had of breaking out!
Except...she just didn't care. All she knew was that she had been away from Caitlin for too long, and however fake this might be...even just seeing her once was worth doing anything for!
And as such, Katie opened the door...and potentially doomed herself.
The interesting thing was that the hallucination matrix was smart. Very smart. When it scanned Katie’s memories, it realized one thing. Katie couldn’t be killed at all, much less via hallucinations. After all...what could the hallucinations show her? Caitlin’s death? Or maybe the hallucinations could try to torture Katie? All that would do was make Katie suffer and make her tougher and help her break out of the hallucinations. That would be doing her a favor.
So it went for the next best thing. Instead of trying to kill Katie, it tried to neutralize her. The hallucination matrix discovered the weakest point in Katie’s character. Instead of taking away what Katie wanted, it gave her exactly that. Instead of punishing her, it rewarded her.
The plan worked out perfectly. An army of Chaos Descendants couldn’t take down Katie, but a single hallucination did. Katie knew everything was fake. She knew the woman she was cuddling and kissing was long dead. But still, she willingly stepped into the trap and allowed the hallucinations to overpower her.
Her blade wasn't drawn. Her Branches weren’t activated. The best way to defeat Katie was never by striking her body. It was by going for her heart.
At this point, the best thing for the Owner to do was to carry Katie away from the floor and get her into some hidden prison cell in the cinema where no one would ever enter. Ideally, he should move the hallucination matrix too and keep Katie subdued. The details would need some work, but without outside intervention, Katie would never be able to break free of her mental restraints. She still wouldn’t die, but she would be imprisoned for a long, long time.
Perhaps eventually, Katie would be completely starved out. Since she wasn't in pain, she couldn't feed, and time would be the only thing needed to mark her end.
And Katie was fine with that. In fact, she welcomed it. A life with Caitlin...so what if death was waiting for her at the end? She would gladly embrace such a fate.
But guess who wasn’t fine with that? The Owner.
When the Owner connected to the hallucination matrix and saw Katie having one of the best days of her life, he was furious! Katie killed so many of his forces and almost killed him! In fact, when she tossed her Knife out, if he wasn’t cautious enough to replace his true self with a hallucination, he would’ve been dead already! Not to mention the embarrassment! And now...his ultimate weapon had this girl in its control, and it was giving her a pleasure session?
If you really can’t find her weakness in her memories, then just make her think someone is drilling into her eyes or something!
A distance away, Gadreel was screaming in sheer agony. The very foundation of his existence was being torn apart piece by piece whereas, not far from him, Katie was reaching to take off her clothes.
That was the final straw. As much as he wanted to watch things unfold, the Owner decided he wouldn’t grant Katie the pleasure of being reunited with her love. With the same level of arrogance that caused him to unnecessarily piss off an Angel of unknown power, without even bothering to find out why this was happening, the Owner instructed the hallucination matrix to change things up.
Just as Katie took off her jacket and was reaching for her T-shirt, the surroundings changed once again, and this time, she found herself catching an electric drill right in the left eye.
As a scream left Katie’s mouth, and as she leaped into the air and pounced on him like a furious lioness...that was when the Owner knew he fucked up...one last time.