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“... Hm. Now what's this? Do I feel something squirming its way beneath my skin? An invasive, foreign little germ... after all this time? Ah, but I see... you. Well, little germ, let's make a game of you... You've blundered along the shadows above, and only managed to squirm all the way down here but by the barest skin of your teeth. There are no shadows here that would be of use to you. Not even the ground beneath your feet is yours. There are no places you can hide. Not from me.” He laughed as the train violently shook with me in it.Despite the smoothness of his voice making my face flush slightly, I glared up at the giant eye watching, stumbling to keep my balance.The sneer across my face must have gained his attention, because he chuckled and then retorted, “Now, now, little germ, no need for that kind of look. Take my words as a complement. Not many people can pique my interest.” He chuckled as I continued with the dirty looks, “How adorable you are that you think you’re terrifying with those looks. Try not to die, little bug, I’m expecting you.”That was the last thing he left spoken, as the tv screen in the carriage shut off. The train shook, enough to send me back to my feet. When it eventually crashed, I was let out though I almost stumbled from the effects of the crash. Seeing that opening, I scrambled out as fast as I was able to and hurried along the corridor until I noticed the grab pack handle at the top of a dead end.The body strung up at the top of the ledge caught me off guard; how it got there was beyond me, “What the fuck?!”As I got to the top, the smell was putrid. It made me gag as I passed by it. I looked back at the fallen coworker, noting the name on the tag and not really remembering who they were, but still having a pang of guilt that I survived and they didn’t. After a brief moment of respect, I moved forward through a grate with only the goal of escaping the prison in mind.Not far into the vent walkway, I found a panel I was able to aim my blue grab pack hand at and open the cell. Once that was scanned, I carried on through down to a short corridor.A blast of steam came out of a pipe, causing me to yell, “Fucking hell!”After that short scare, I carried on, passed it and jumped down the short ledge, being grateful that I had strong legs. I came out through the cell I had previously opened, still feeling on edge about the whole fact that there was an actual prison at the bottom of the toy factory. Like who does that??I was starting to think I had become less and less surprised by what I was finding down here, and I thought the prison was the icing on the cake, but the little critter scurrying past the door distracted those thoughts. I fired my flare gun at it, for fear of being attacked. That seemed to work in getting it to flee away, as I slowly emerged from the cell. Catching a glimpse of the 2 critters feeding on another and the shiver having passed down my spine, I quickly closed the cell door they were in only just managing closing before it caught their attention.The cell next door was opened, and the gaping hole provided me a way to get into the next part of that prison floor. Before I was able to emerge, a bat-like critter was munching in the doorway. A quick use of my flare gun provided me with a way out, as the critter was quick to rush away after that. The cell a couple of doors across was opened, but the blue panel on the opposite side of the debris caught my attention and my blue grab pack hand, as I aimed and fired it at it. It scanned and opened that door, to provide me a path.With that sorted, I approached the opened cell door a couple of doors down from where I stood. I glanced around before entering, having a feeling of being watched, and shook it off. The cell had a hole in the back of it, but was covered with wooden boards that were easily removed with the help of my grab pack. Going through that hole, and emerging out the cell door I opened earlier, had me appear on the opposite side of the rubble.The feeling of being watched remained, causing me to rub my arms out of being anxious. I strolled through the opened, large steel doors to what looked like a break room, and was glad to see a red grab pack hand - my original being taken by Mommy Long Legs -. I wasn’t as glad to see the decaying skeleton beside it.“Sorry, mate. I’m… I’m just going to borrow this.” I apologised, despite them being long dead, as I took the hand. I scooted away, the red hand attached to my grab pack, and exited the room.I glanced around, looking for who or whatever was watching. When I was unable to see anything, I tried to find a way out.The loudspeaker squeaking to life alerted me that The Doctor was going to make a critique of what I was doing.“The Subject scrambles for an advantage…” I hated that his voice was so attractive to me, the fact that the pretentious prick carried on too, “They appear lost and disoriented. Heavy breathing is indicative of fear, and rightly so.” Heavy breathing, the prick… I wasn’t… Fuck, the way he said that… I tried to keep my focus on what he was saying, looking around for a TV screen or something that showed he was watching. “Let’s test the response to said fear when pushed into action.”I didn’t much like what he said there… I rushed to close the cell doors as they all opened, just about seeing the critters looming in the doorways. The ones that had gotten out got a face full of flare gun. The ones that I missed, they managed to get a scratch or bite in, though not enough to stop me. I did this for as long as I was able to, starting to feel the burn in my thighs from running in the short circle and the tightness of my chest as it was getting harder to catch up with how many were coming out of the cells.I was grateful when his voice spoke again, causing the mini critters to back off and scurry back into their cells.“I have seen enough. Thank you. You may proceed.”I don’t know what it was, something in his voice? I wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or pain or something else, but it was there. It kind of sounded as if he felt bad I had gotten hurt? Nah, definitely not that. The guy hurt children, for Christ’s sake, he wasn’t likely to give a shit about me.The opening he had provided led me into more of the prison to a point I was able to use my new red hand. I scanned the panel and it opened the security gates, giving me access to the control room. Upon entering the control room, I saw the Yarnaby cutout and excitedly pressed the button to listen to the different phrases. What made me cringe was how the song had distorted, causing me to turn away and head for the whiteboard.“Hmm…” I looked over the board, noting the code was made from the hangman game; I looked between the assignments and the game, seeing the code was 3255. I entered that into the keypad beside me and it opened the red button. I pressed it, opening the door at the opposite side of the prison floor. I hurried as fast as my legs carried my body.Only to be stopped by the locked gate, I used the blue hand to pry the metal bars off and give me access into the next part of the prison. I noted the security fence around a control panel, approaching that with caution.As I did, the little phone I had rang; I answered, it was Ollie, though there was a bit of static so it was hard to tell what he was saying, “... you hear… too much interfer- … make your way to… there’s something… -octor is…” As he was speaking, I was opening the red panel, about to speak when he hung up.“Ollie?” I spoke quietly as I continued into the next room, finding a long corridor, “Ollie, you there?”I stopped in my tracks for a moment, seeing all the dead. There was so much blood.. So many dead. More than before. They were mostly slumped against the walls, but there was the odd one who was posed funny that I was unable to stop a giggle coming out of over. Curse my morbid sense of humour, this was not the time.I continued on, until there was debris in my way, though there was a gap to squeeze through. For me, it was very much a squeeze as I wasn’t the skinniest person. The squeezing was enough as it was even with the grab pack tucked away, what made it feel incredibly uncomfortable were the numerous dead bodies inches from my face. After grabbing the keycard from beside another bunch of slouched bodies, I squashed back through the uncomfortable tunnel of bodies.Wanting to get away from the area as fast as possible, I abruptly escaped back into the control room and slid the key card through the machine. That opened one of the doors I needed to get through, startling at the sight of the eyes on the monitors for a second.“I see you, pretty plaything.” His voice chuckled, before going silent again.I went into the office that had just opened as well, finding a Poppy coin and putting it above the door a bit further down. Another was found in the office beside where I had just placed the first Poppy coin. After noticing the broken window to the door I wanted to get into, I also spotted the 2nd plaque that fit the Poppy coins. I put the 2nd coin in that slot, once removing the one in its place. That did the trick in opening the door, I was quick to spot the VHS tape and the TV, putting the tape in.The TV had a bit of static before an image of what looked like the red hand appeared. It looked different, but I didn’t completely recognise it. I gathered it was possibly the omni-hand that the executives had, since they were the only ones allowed to have those. An alarm of some sorts sounded in the background.A voice I didn’t recognise spoke, sounding incredibly terrified, “Oh God, no! No, no, no, no.” He sounded like he had been running, trying to hide some place secluded and safe.The next voice that spoke, however, I did recognise. He had a tired voice, as if he had been awoken from a nap (fuck, he’s sexy!), “Warden?”“Doctor! Doctor, what’s going on? What’s happening, it’s -” The Warden worriedly fretted.“Yes.” He groaned, seemingly to stretch. Dammit, why did he have to sound so sexy? “Yes, I can hear it. They’ve staged quite the rebellion.” The bastard chuckled; I gathered he must have been talking about the Hour of Joy, “Remarkable, 1006.”“How could it happen? There’s failsafes, security measures. They… It’s impossible…” The Warden sounded astonished.“Personal agendas have long been the downfall of this company. Is it unreasonable to believe there were conspirators? Playtime is filled with vipers and backstabbers.” The Doctor seemed to emphasise that word.“But.. But without executive access… How could anyone even get through? Leith, Stella, Eddie. Only the four of us have that kind of clearance.”“Does any of that matter now? It’s your life you have to protect. You have executive access.”“For all the good it does me! Opening a door at a time won’t get me to the exit, not with these things everywhere.” He took a shuddering breath, “You didn’t see what I saw. You didn’t see the trail of limbs down the hall, didn’t hear the things eating. The…” He took another shuddering breath, “The wet crunches of bones… God, I…” He trailed off.He must have been talking about those bodies I passed to get to the red key card.“There is something you can do, Warden. I can help you.” The Doctor seemed to have a plan in mind, one of malicious intent.The Warden questioned him, “How? You’re stuck in there. You can’t-”“My body’s here, sure.” He paused, sounding as if he smirked, “But my mind…”“...What?” The Warden asked in confusion.The Doctor continued, probably rolling his eyes, “The Omni-hand. If you give it to me, I can get you anywhere.” I giggled slightly at the way he pronounced ‘anywhere’, thinking it didn’t sound like he typically did. “I’ll have control over everything. I can shut some doors, open others. I can make you a pathway that leads right to exit.”“I don’t …. I don’t know…” The Warden was rightfully hesitant to trust the Doctor.He seemed to taunt the Warden, “If you want to wait to get torn to pieces, that’s your prerogative, but look at your immediate options, Warden. What choice other than this gets you out of here alive?”The Warden gave in, “I’m going to give you the tool. Just get me out of here. Please.”“Of course,” I felt there was more to what the Doctor was saying than he was leading on; there had to be, I didn’t feel he trusted these people, “You’ve made a smart decision, Warden. I’ll get you out of here safe and sound.”With that, the tape shut off indicating the end of the recording. I carried on through to the control panel, seeing the door was opened to the next section of the prison. This part was shrouded in red, feeling a lot more ominous. I felt on edge here. After a short moment of wandering, I found a gap I was able to squish through, and strolled around to where there was a possible hole to the floor below, that was blocked by pipes.“Don’t fight.” He almost sounded like a whisper, until he added, “Fighting only makes it work quicker.”Confusion hit me for only a second, until the red smoke covered my vision. It happened so quickly, I didn’t even see it come into the room. I moved fast, prying at the pipes blocking the hole and jumping down. It was a bit clearer down the bottom, but the smoke was still coming. I hurried to find a way to shut it off, causing me to break some planks blocking my path. By the time I had reached the valve on the workshop desk, my vision was starting to blur and go all fuzzy. I reached the pipe the valve belonged to in time, rushing to turn it in order to slow the smoke.My red hand made quick work of the panel, allowing me access into the control room above. It was a safe space, but I had to turn the red smoke off in order to progress. The calendar beside the keypad gave me the answer to the code: 3642, given by some of the clues on the board. Pressing the red button put the smoke into overflow, and the pressure blew the room’s window in.That gave me another way out, climbing out onto the filing cabinet. Following the path around, a purple hand pad waited for me. I got my purple hand out and launched myself up to a ledge, causing me to grunt upon landing. The banging of a shutter door alarmed me, making me jump slightly at the loud noise. It was jammed by the large crate, creating an exit route for me and enabling me to continue onward.Another purple pad, another ledger jumped up to. It made me think of how the workers down here managed it everyday. It made me glad that I was an artist in the toy development department, I came up with the concepts of the toys.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A vent led to a side room that luckily had the shutters open. I noticed the panel on the wall, testing it to see what happened. The opposite door shut. Seeing this, I went over to the other side, finding a panel there too. Testing this one closed the shutter I had come out of. Being on this side of the room allowed me to see the large crates that I used to keep the two shutters open by shuffling them into place with my blue hand. Following that, I used the red and blue hand to press the scanners.“Woo!” I cheered when the main door opened, giving me access. As I passed through, the shutter behind me closed, and the one in front slowly raised.These seemed to be observation rooms here. It was eerie to see the fun-coloured walls, with the chair and chains in front of it, like it was made for children. In one of the rooms, I happened upon a prisoner profile for Pianosaurus… or 1163 as it said in the profile. It was weird calling them prisoners because they hadn’t done anything wrong, but they were trapped. The profile was written by Dr Harley Sawyer - the Doctor himself -, and there were times he seemed cold, heartless toward his experiments… Like my dad with me.He mused from over the loudspeaker, "Not much of a speaker, are you? Good, I like an obedient, silent pet, though you’re not very obedient at times."Rolling my eyes, I tucked the profile away into my satchel, and moved on. The red light coming from one of the observation rooms caught my attention, drawing me to it. I entered the observation room.“You know, I never thought I’d see another like you.” He spoke as I entered, locking the door behind me, save for the red light. “A human. Certainly not an employee like you.” He sounded surprised, “But… something makes you different, I can tell that much. Though, I can’t say what exactly that ‘something’ is. Not yet.” He paused for a moment, “The others you’ve faced… 1170,1188, 1222… Been there. Done that.” He sounded as if he smirked, “Let’s try our hand at something a little different.”He summoned something, opening the door in the observation chamber and putting the light on, “Oh, Yarnaby!”I was unable to stop myself from biting my bottom lip at the way he sounded. Those thoughts were put on hold when a pair of glistening black eyes looked at me from the darkness. The charging woolly lion-dog startled me into stepping backwards.“Bloody hell!” I held a hand to my chest, staring as it scratched the glass between us.Just seeing how large his claws were made me anxious, especially when he started to headbutt the glass a couple of times, before standing on his hind legs to lean against the glass and roaring, exiting out of the hole behind him.Once getting past the terrifying parts of him, he looked like a big kitty, “Aw! He’s kinda cute!”The Doctor taunted, “Please, do keep making this enjoyable for me. I’ll be taking notes.”“Of course you will, you prick…” I mumbled, rolling my eyes, “You sit wherever you are, all cushy, whilst you watch me suffer. Egotistical wanker…”“Hmm,” His voice made me jump, as I switched the battery to the blue slot. He chuckled, “You won’t be saying those things, when Yarnaby catches up to you. Best hurry now, little one.”“If.” I muttered, as my blue hand opened the door, leading me out to a cramped hallway.I walked until there was a locked gate in my way. I almost shrieked when I saw Yarnaby trudging by into the grate, luckily I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself. I was alarmed at the long, stretchy yellow arm reaching down to unlock the gate for me. I nodded a small, silent thank you to whoever it was and went through, going through the yellow door on the other side. The smell of play-dough filled my nostrils as I passed through.As I entered what looked like a storage room, I saw an opening underneath a fallen shelf held up on some boxes. I gasped as I almost came face to face with Yarnaby. I backed up enough that the big lion wasn’t able to see me. I let out a quiet whimper as he let out a growling roar and went on his way forward.“Psst,” Someone called, catching Yarnaby’s attention by setting some papers on fire.That gave me an opening to use my blue hand to grapple myself up to the grate. I escaped through, climbing into a dark room. I put my flashlight on, seeing I was in a room of harddrives - well I gathered they were -. Cautiously, I stepped forward.Yarnaby prowling passed me and then quickly turning on his heels, that startled me. I didn’t think something that big was able to move so quickly. His large claws scratched at the steel flooring. Seeing his back was to me, I moved fast to get to the other side. It sounded as if he was trying to paw at a metal gate as I hid in an area he was unable to reach.I peaked my head out, only for Yarnaby to break the fence he was pawing at and scurry away into a grate. I took that opportunity and moved toward a vent. Entering allowed me to find a grey VHS. Putting it on the TV nearby, an image of paperwork appeared on screen and the executives began talking.Eddie Ritterman was the first to speak, “This has to stop! The Doctor has no regard for the safety of this facility, or its staff.”“Or the children in Playcare!” Stella Greyber was the next to speak, sounding distressed, “I’ve tried to set boundaries with him. He doesn’t listen to me.”Leith Pierre spoke after, “He doesn’t listen to any of us. Not really. Not anymore. And he’s behind schedule.” That was what he cared about more? “Playtime may have turned a corner financially, but that doesn’t change the fact that his ‘Bigger Bodies Initiative’ is still a money hole.”“The guy’s gotta go, Leith.” Eddie calmly added on.“And how do we suggest we do that?”“This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve made someone disappear.”“We can’t kill him, Eddie.” Leith told him.Eddie seemed annoyed at that fact, “...Why not?”“Because like it or not, we need him.”Stella stepped in, “Eddie’s right though, Sawyer can’t keep leading this project.”Leith chuckled in disbelief, “So we just ask him to step down? Take a demotion?”“No, but-”“I’m not disagreeing. Huggy loose in the woods. That business with Catnap. The whole Stoll thing.”Eddie interrupted, “And half a dozen other incidents.”“Right… And all of that pales in comparison to the Theatre Incident.”Stella - who seemed to be the only one to care for the kids - shuddered, “I don’t even want to talk about that…”“So, we can’t kill the son of a bitch, but we need to knock him out of the equation. What do we do?” Eddie asked.Leith spoke up, “There is one thing I can think of…”From that line and the video ending, I kind of got the feeling they were behind why The Doctor was the way he was. I felt a little guilty for Harley…“I know the guy was doing his job in the worst way possible, he was a doctor doing some cruel shit, but to be stabbed in the back like that by people you worked with? That’s really low.” I shook my head, “I kinda feel bad for him…”I didn’t know why I was siding with this guy. Afterall, he had nearly killed me for his sick little games. More than once.“Well, you would be the one to have empathy, wouldn’t you? Perfect little plaything, always thinking of others…” He was annoyed, anger evidently rising, “Those… traitors… took everything from me. I was at the peak of my career. I had it good. Then they did… this… The workers here… they all think for themselves. They never want to think ahead.” Then his voice softened, “Interesting... that out of all the workers at this godforsaken place... you are the one to... Well, let's not dwell on that, shall we, my dear?"Was he hinting at something there? Was he trying to say that I’m the one he gained feelings for? Nah, why would he? In life, he was a successful doctor, neurosurgeon. Why would he have picked out a chubby concept artist like me?The tape stuck with me even as I crouched through the vent, hearing the clattering of claws on metal nearby. It made me anxious that Yarnaby was somewhere in them, but when I came out into a storage room, I was glad to be out of there.“Ready for a game of fetch, pet?” The Doctor’s voice laughed, as I progressed through the room; I stopped at some fallen shelves that led into a long corridor. He drawled, “Yarnaby, be a good boy and bring her to me. Do not harm her. I need her in mostly good condition for what I have in mind.”The looming shadow above me let me know that Yarnaby was already in a pouncing position. It didn’t give me a chance to move, as he pounced as soon as I looked up. The force of him barrelling into me caused me to lose consciousness. It wasn’t until I was being carried - softly - in Yarnaby’s jaws that I woke up. He padded along, until he came to a laboratory looking area, and he spat me out in front of a machine with what looked like a brain inside. He sat beside me as I looked around, seeing wires and machinery everywhere, and looked as if he stood guard.I brought my knees to my chest, shuffling away from the large lion dog. When it didn’t seem he was going to attack, I stopped, “Why did you bring me here? Where am I?”“You, my dear,” The metal clanking against the tile floor alarmed me to the robotic creature coming into view; he stood in front of me, taller than I thought. The TV screen upon his shoulders displayed a large purple eye which had his gaze on me. His hands were behind his back, “are in the belly of the beast. You are in my domain.”A flick of his metal hand caused Yarnaby to wander off back the way he had come, leaving me alone with the man… Cyborg in front of me.I shuffled back when he stepped too close for comfort, scrambling to get back to my feet.“No, no, there’s no point trying to get away.” He stepped closer, and snapped his fingers in my direction a couple of times.The wires wrapping around my arms and legs frightened me, especially when some smaller robots surrounded me. They kept me in place, as the main one stepped over me. They kept me at a vertical angle, keeping me upright so he was face to face with me.“You have been a bit of a thorn in our sides. More trouble than you seem.” He leaned over, the eye narrowing as it looked over me.“What can I say? I love causing chaos for you.” I quipped, a nervous smirk on my face, “It’s fun.”He gave a rather dangerous chuckle, “You, darling, are getting far too in over your head. Listen to me when I tell you this: stop. Stop whilst you’re ahead.”“Why would I do that? After all the crap I’ve seen, why would I stop and not see it to the end?” I smirked at him, “These toys… these kids, they need peace. I’m going to at least give them that.”He moved swiftly, surprising me for a moment, as he put a hand around my neck, “Listen -”I smirked, once getting past the shock of his actions; my eyes half-lidded, the smirk still plastered on my face, as I breathlessly told him, “Harder, daddy!”The shock of it caused him to back away, loosen his grip on my neck; he was startled by such actions, moving a few steps away.My smug smirk was wiped off my face when he moved closer. That was not part of the plan.“Well, little pet, I didn’t expect such words from you.” He grinned, his tone of voice low, and stepped closer. Too close, “Nasty little pervert in reality, aren’t you, dear? Maybe I should punish you for such words or would that be something you’re into as well, hmm?”“Why don’t you find out?” I dared him, leaning closer to his screen.“Huh,” He lightly laughed, “There’s more to you than I thought. I might just take that offer. Let’s call this… an experiment of sorts.”He leaned in, the eye on the screen having a curious look to it. His screen was inches from my face, as his hands roughly grabbed at my breasts through the checked shirt. He let out a short laugh as I whimpered at his touch. He lowered one of his hands down my body, clutching my thigh when he reached it. His other hand followed suit, the first pulling my legs apart, and was soon in my pants. The coldness of his metal hands came through the cloth of my underwear, causing me to shiver.I gasped as he pressed a finger to my clit; my hips bucked at the contact. When he pressed harder, I moaned and writhed in his grasp.A lowly growl came from him, “Oh, little pet, those noises are like music to my ears…Let’s see if they increase if I do this…”He moved his hand to inside my underwear, his thumb continued to press against my clit, whilst he pushed another inside of me. He tested the grounds to see how I was going to react. Seeing that I adjusted, he increased pace and entered another finger.“Oh.. fuck…” I panted as he hit the right spot, tossing my head back.“Interesting…” He mused, pressing his body between my thighs. That enabled him to move his hand from my thigh back to my boob. He seemed to chuckle when he saw I was trying to wrap my legs around him, despite them being held in place. He wormed his hand underneath the shirt I wore.I sucked on my teeth as the shock of the coldness from his hand surprised me. His fingers brushing over my nipple caused my breath to hitch, and a moan to escape my throat.He chuckled, huffing, sounding as if he was struggling with keeping his composure, “You’re so close, pet…”“D-doctor…” I whimpered, glad that I was held up as my legs felt like jelly; my whimpers and moans got louder the longer he thrusted his fingers in and out of me.“Good… girl…” He prolonged his words, when I was close to the edge, “That’s it… Good little pet.”“Fuck…” I gasped, tipping my head back. I panted as I went over that edge.“Hmm…Such a good little pet.” He indicated to the robots to lower me; he watched as my legs collapsed underneath me, causing me to fall to the floor. He chuckled, putting his hands behind his back, “Sleep, my little pervert.”I raised an eyebrow at him, but it was clear what he meant when the red smoke was poured into my face. The short sleep that occurred after was not pleasant, but at the same time… It was.The pain in my chest from the running felt like fire. I glanced back to see the lion-dog behind me, snapping at my heels. He chased me until I fell down a tunnel and landed on the floor below. I didn’t feel it, it just felt like I was floating.I laid across the colourful tile floor, on my back as I frantically looked around. There was a looming shadow over me that caused me to scramble away.“Oh, little bug, where do you think you are going?” The Doctor’s voice rang around me, “You are going to my most perfect experiment yet.”“W-what?” I tried to get away, but found it difficult to do so.He appeared, looming over me like a giant; his giant hands came out of nowhere, trapping me between them, as he chuckled, “So precious. You, my dear, have gotten well under my skin. More than I ever thought someone could.”His left hand grabbed around me, pulling me close to his TV screen face. His single eye went half lidded as he did.“You’ve got me, what are you gonna do now?” I smirked up at him, “Doctor~”“Oh-ho, my little pervert, you…You are going to find out very soon.” He chuckled.Disappointment filled me, as I woke up. Even more so when I noticed I was back in the observation room area.“Fuck sake…” I trudged back toward the way I had gone earlier, getting the same jumpscares by Yarnaby as I passed through the same areas. It wasn’t until I got to the shelves that Yarnaby had pounced me that I felt better. I stepped out, far enough to be away from the shelves.I took a breath, leaning over on my knees. I was until I heard clattering on the shelves behind me and a roar of some sort. I was startled, looking back and seeing Yarnaby clambering up the shelves. I ran for it as he got back into a prowling position.“Fuck this shit!” I ran for it, dodging the crates that happened to be in my way; I was grateful for the yellow hand opening the door in front of me, and giving me an exit route. I panted, trying to get my breath back as the door closed behind me. I was glad there was a barrier between us as I heard the lion-dog scratching at the door, letting out roars and headbutting the door.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I carried on through, having gained my breath back, the vent nearby still able to hear the lion-dog. Jumping down a couple of parts led me to an office, where I found a green tape and keycard. Trudging through, I was able to find the cardboard cutout of Pianosaurus - a concept that was popular among young boys - and I pressed the large red button to listen to his voice clips. The dinosaur’s voice made me think he was a bit fruity and friendly.Listening to the distorted song that played after a couple of clips, I commented, “Wow, the songs really don’t hold up on these things…”I continued until I found a TV that I was able to play the VHS tape on. Putting the tape in caused the TV to spring to life and play the tape, showing a vending machine in the background.Leith Pierre was the first voice to speak, “So, Ms Greyber, have you considered what we talked about?”Throughout listening to the video, I was sure I heard the sound of a stomach rumbling in the distance, but continued listening anyway.
“Yes, Mr Pierre. I… I won’t lie, I was at a loss for words at first.” Stella Greyber replied, “The information hit me pretty hard. I felt so badly - I still do - for the ones that go through the, um, testing.”“You really care about them?”“Yes, it… it hurts to…to see them hurt. I-I-I don’t think there’s any way around that feeling.” She took a deep breath, “But… I did some soul searching, and got to thinking about the bigger picture… About what your researchers wrote.”“And?” All I was able to picture was a man raising a big bushy eyebrow as he waited for an answer.“Well, the work itself, what you’ve all been able to do, I mean, it’s nothing short of a miracle. I-I know you have more goals to hit, but even as is, just… wow.” She truly sounded astounded, “Do they know when it’ll be… fully ready?”“We’re still working out the timeline.”“Hmm, I see.”“You know, the project lead - Dr Sawyer - wasn’t sure about giving you that information in the first place. He thinks your affection towards those kids could be a liability… What do you think about that?” The whole thing with Leith felt like an interview, like he was testing her for something.She sighed, “I took this job because I wanted to help change kids’ lives for the better. Of course these procedures are far from ideal. I cried like a baby when I read them.” That’s understandable, who would want to see kids get hurt? “But, I started looking past the here and now, started looking down the road a bit. That’s when it clicked. What your researchers can do down here will someday help a lot of people out there, including so, so many kids. That’s a bigger and better change than I could ever have hoped to make. That’s a change I want to help make.” She sounded so hopeful, like you were able to see the love Stella had for the kids in her voice. She sounded genuine.“I knew you’d understand.” Leith stated, before the VHS finished.With the tape finished, I went on my way and found a scanner for the key card I had found earlier. I swiped it through, granting me access through the yellow door in front of me. I entered, going into what looked like a control room, and I heard the stomach growling louder this time. I looked around to see a pathway to the other side, where a white door was dimly lit. The path looked steady, despite being crusty looking concrete, but enough to hold me. At least that was what I hoped as I stepped toward it. I glanced down into the black pit, seeing some light, and in the light stood Pianosaurus.He hungrily munched on something, not able to see what, distracted.“Glad I’m not down there…” I muttered, putting the grab pack away as I stepped out onto the ledge.I screeched as I slipped, falling into the pit. Shaking off the dust, I looked around hearing the sound of piano keys playing and stomach growling. My heart leapt into my throat as the dinosaur turned to face me. I shuffled to be as far back as I was able to get, hitting the concrete wall behind me.The dinosaur sped toward me, like a velociraptor having found its prey.I cowared, awaiting the inevitable of being eaten. My gaze was fixated on the musical toy running at me, feeling as if time slowed. I felt like I shat myself as he was inches from my face, when he seemed to stop. As he was pulled back from me into the darkness, I was grateful for whoever that was.There seemed to be a yellow claw-like hand wrapped around Pianosaurus’ body, dragging him. Then it lifted the dinosaur up, smashing him down with the sound of when someone smashed a piano. It threw Pianosaurus around for a short while, until he was pulled back into the darkness, seemingly to his doom. The sound of crunching bones… parts and blood splattering confirmed this.I continued to stay back as the dinosaur’s head slid out, his life going out by the orange light of his mouth keys fading. I stared wide-eyed as I waited for whatever that was to come out and eat me.“Now that hit the spot! I haven’t eaten in weeks!” The voice stated, happily. Shit, did that mean I was next? Was he full? The blue face coming out of the darkness looked familiar. When he ran at me, I felt my ass clench and feared the worst, “Hiya there, pal!”I must have had a look of absolute terror on my face, because he giggled and pointed a yellow digit at me, “Don’t worry, I won’t eat YOU.” I still felt on edge as he laughed, holding his blue, yellow and orange belly. He took off his hat, bowing in front of me, “I’m Doey. I was told to expect you.” He put the hat back on his head, narrowing his eyes as he spoke; he put his hands on his hips.“A-Are you the ‘allies’ Poppy was talking about?” I managed to squeak.He helped me to my feet with his big hands, “This way. Follow me…”I watched as he turned, his neck extending as he walked. He seemed friendly enough, so I just followed. I got the grab pack out again, having it at the ready in case I needed to use it. I glanced around, finding a ledge and a handle for my grab pack that allowed me to follow Doey.As I got to the top, I heard Doey whisper, “Psst.”I saw him duck his head beyond a corner, but I was unable to reach him with some shelves and other things in the way. I saw that there was an open door to the left of me and went that way, hoping it provided me with a path toward the doughman. It led to an interrogation room.“Interrogation rooms…” Doey’s voice came from beyond, not sounding thrilled at first, “They’d question us here after watching us. Those of us who could speak at all. I always answered.” He chuckled, “But, I never gave ‘em an answer they liked. He, he, he.”Seeing there was no path further, I tried the door on the right. It seemed to be more promising as the one-way mirror was broken. The knocked-over chair in the middle had blood around it and on the wall. The door, however, was unlocked and gave me a way to follow Doey. There was more blood as I went onward, finding a yellow tape in one of the unlocked rooms.Another unlocked room had a hole that looked like it had been made with explosives of some sort, but it looked like a way to progress so I went that way. The buzzing of the lights above hit my ears as I entered the storage room. There was a thin gap in the wall that led me through another white door.A short distance ahead, I was able to hear Doey, “Here!”I wanted to be thorough, so I checked the room across from me. There was a hole in the wall that led me to a small room. Finding the TV, I played the tape. Someone in a hazmat suit appeared on screen as the first person spoke, male.“We got another one over here!”“Jeez,” Another man spoke with an Irish accent, “Hard to imagine how the company will tuck all this under the rug.”I wondered where they were as their voices sound echoey as they spoke.A female added, sounding not so bothered about what they were talking about; she gave the impression that she was there to get paid and nothing else, “Not our problem.”A 4th person spoke up, shouting from a short distance away, “Three here!”Given where we were, I started to gather what they were finding. It definitely wasn’t from the Hour of Joy, though, as no one other than me were left alive, to my knowledge.The 2nd specialist asked, “How many is that now?”“Fifty-Eight, so far.” The women told them.A 5th person added, seemingly a short distance in the opposite direction, “Another over here!”She sighed, “Fifty-Nine.”The Irishman sounded annoyed as he asked, “Where’s that investigator? Campbell, Lockehart, whatever his name is…”“Poking around somewhere. Don’t know.” She gave the impression she didn’t care either, “You ask me, the culprit is obvious. Just needs to be spelled out plain and clear for the bigwigs.”“You think?”“Yeah, rotten eggs come from rotten chickens, ya know?” She grumbled the next part, annoyance in the tone of her voice, “Can’t get more rotten a chicken than him.”“I don’t know, just seems too careless that a guy so smart wouldn’t cover his ass. I mean, if the investigator finds evidence of this being his fault…”The female chuckled, “Hope Boxy’s still hungry.”“Got another!” The first voice shouted.“Sixty…” She sighed.“Right, and are we just stuffing the experiments back where they came from?” The Irish guy sounded frustrated, “Acting like all this didn’t happen? Wool over the eyes? Because I guarantee, it won’t be so easy to toss a new coat of paint over sixty visitors dead!” Yup, that made me think it was possible that this was the theatre incident that happened a while back. It was all over the factory, even reaching my department because it was that bad. “Or the dozen Resource Extraction Specialists we’ve got swimming in the bellies of those things.”“I’m sure that’s taken care of already… But, I hear there’s plans. Something big. Somewhere to put them.” Was this before the prison was made? It seemed like it was. It was like a puzzle trying to put all these tapes and paperwork into a timeline order, but I thought I was managing quite well. “With any luck, that means stuff like this, and people like him, will be a thing of the past.”“Six more over here!” The 5th person spoke up, sounding further away.That made 66 people, and that made me believe it was the Theatre Incident that these people were cleaning up, because that’s what was published in the papers.I watched as the screen shut off, processing the VHS, before turning back around and heading through the hole and out of the room. I followed the corridor around until I spotted Doey.“There’s some nasty falls in this place, but I can get you across.” Doey stated as he slipped through the yellow bars; he stretched out across the cavern, providing me with a way across, He sounded almost sinister as he said, “Oh yes, definitely.”I broke apart the bars that I was able to with my grab-pack, making a gap big enough for me to fit through. I carefully crossed over Doey, using him as a bridge. As I tripped over my feet as I reached near his head, I apologised, “Sorry…”There was a short gap I was able to jump across, and then another that I was able to scramble down the cliff side to get to a rocky part. As I got there, Doey formed into another platform for me to climb across.“So… have you seen Poppy anywhere? Ollie said she was around… somewhere…” His voice sounded deeper as he spoke; I was put on edge, as he stated, me standing on him as he did, “He also said we can trust you. I really hope that’s true.”I quickly ran across to the other side, “Not since I came down here ...I am…”I went ahead, going down a small cavern corridor. A couple of hops and jumps, I found a hole in the wall. I gathered Doey had gone through there when I saw some leftover dough by it. I followed behind, finding Doey stood beside a thin gap in the wall. .He beckoned me over, going through the wall when I was close enough, “There’s a safe place up ahead, it’s not too far from here.”“Uhh…” I stood staring in astonishment. Did he think I was going to fit through there? Not even a normal sized human would!“Riight, you can’t fit through here. Hmm…” He sounded more cheerful again, “Hey pal, let's see if we can’t get these doors open. You check out there. I’ll look back here!”I got the feeling it was going to be down to me to open them. Glancing around, I saw some chains with hooks and thought that I could attach those to the door handles. I used my grab-pack to drag the chains across the corners of the room they were in so that the hook linked with the bar handles of the door. As I did this, I noticed there were a couple of the levers missing. I found one on the floor of the prison yard, grabbing it and running over to one of the spots that it belonged to.“C’mon,” I grunted, struggling to put the lever in place as it was a bit higher up than I would have liked. I was happy when it went in, “stupid… thing… Ah, got it!”“Can this help?” Doey shouted, throwing something orange toward me as I pulled the first 2 levers.It wasn’t until it landed that I saw it was a corpse of a mini Dogday! That was fucked up, dude! Getting past that fact, I saw there was a lever beside him, so I grabbed it. Putting the 3rd lever in place, I pulled it. Nothing seemed to happen, so I went up the spiralling staircase that was through the side door.This led me to the guard towers and gave a good view of the prison yard.I was stomping through one, as Doey asked, “Is that you in there? Find anything yet?”“Not yet!” I called, but didn’t feel hopeful that he heard me, so carried on to the next tower. I noticed the rusted locker beside the whiteboard and with it was a large keypad. I looked to the whiteboard, hoping the clue to the combination was on it. Not seeing anything obvious, I went to see the other 2 towers. One didn’t have anything useful and the fourth one looked like it had been partially knocked down.“This was a work yard, ya know.” Doey grimly stated, “A dozen of us, maybe two would be here at any given time. During the day, they’d have us work. Whatever they’d want us to do, we’d do it. And for those of us who couldn’t, or wouldn’t… At night, when no one important was watching, they’d take them. Stick them in here. ‘We only got food for one of you this week,’ they’d say, ‘which of you will it be?’ They’d watch from up there. It was usually over within minutes, and the guards, they’d be hysterical! Nobody died. No, because then people would have…But, the next day, and every day after, they would work. Oh yeah, hard as they could, and they’d never cause trouble again…”I felt so guilty that these toys… kids have had to endure this. It was torture, and the people working here, they didn’t care one bit what was happening to them!Determined, I continued; I went back to the tower with the locker, thinking maybe I missed something on the whiteboard. Looking, I thought that maybe the colours of the towers were a clue. I kept that in mind, and looked out into the yard from where I stood. There were numbers on the towers! 3012 - it opened and gave the last lever!Taking the lever, I ran to place it. Once pulling it, the double doors opened! I walked through to see Doey’s head over some rubble. Him stretching as he walked away, it made me giggle a bit.“Over here!” He announced.I needed to catch up with Doey, but there was no way for me to get over that rubble. Knowing that, I went through the door that was to the right of me. Another hole in the wall that gave me access to the next room and out passed the debris. I found some more notes that helped me understand what was going on here.Following through a series of doors and holes in the walls, I found a hole covered by planks. Quick work was made of them by my grab pack, and then I crouched through into the vent. I trailed around them, eventually finding my way back to Doey, who stood waiting at the end of the corridor.“Our generator’s in a pretty bad state, so we try to keep the power off in here. I’ll turn it on for you, though. It’ll open a door downstairs.” He pointed downwards, like he was showing me where the door was.“Thanks, Doey.”“You’re welcome.” He grinned, watching as I jumped into the hole.There were shelves tilted into a tunnel blocking the path. Sighing, I tucked the grab pack away once again, squeezing through the tight gap. There was a long, winding hall that led to a place where a battery could be placed.Doey scared the crap out of me when his yellow arm reached down with a battery, “Here, use this!”I took the battery and put it in place, making me glad some lights came on down here. The clinging of gears got my attention, as I reached the locked yellow door. This caused me to backtrack, thinking that was going to help give me a way out. As I neared the gears in one area, I squinted as the light there was extremely bright and hurt my eyes. Struggling through it, I was able to spot that there were gears missing.With that in mind, I began to look for any that I was able to fix into place. Twisting through what felt like a maze, I found one sitting on a workbench, one through a chainlink fence that I had to clamber over some boxes for, and the final one sitting on a low shelf. I took the gears I had found and fitted them into place, that being a puzzle in itself, but it did the trick in opening the large steel door.“Should be a straight shot from here, bud! I, uh, should probably go turn off our defenses for you huh?” Doey stated from wherever he was.“That would be helpful, yes!” I called back to him.“Guess I’ll see you inside!” He giggled, before heading off to who knows where.The steel door led me into a large kitchen, the same colourful tile floor here. It looked grim here, like it wasn’t in use. The body bags hanging from the ceiling told me otherwise. I nearly threw up, just looking at them, but at the same time I had come to expect things like that from this place. I thought this as I crouched through a couple of fallen shelves.Ahead of me, there was a bit of clattering. Just thinking that maybe it was Doey, I carried on and found one of those large industrial sized fridges in my way. I crouched to see if I was able to get underneath it, but not being able to, I stood back up.I put my hands on my hips as I looked around, “Hmm…”The hook above it gave me the idea that I could use that to lift it, but I felt I needed to get something first. Of course… The lever was missing.The dimly lit room behind me, maybe it was there? As I peered inside, I shivered at the sight of more body bags and the trail of blood. I cringed when I accidentally bumped into one, but still followed the trail. As I got to another room, a small mouse critter jumped out of nowhere.“Ah!” I fired my flare gun at it, happy when it scurried away. I felt bad whenever I had to do that, although they were likely to tear my face off if I didn’t. As it disappeared, I found the lever I was searching for.Being careful not to knock into the bodies again, I went back to the fridge and put the lever in place. It heaved the fridge out of the way when it was pulled, giving me a way into the hallway. I saw that Doey had been this way as there was dough all over some of the shelves.As I passed a gap in the wall, I was startled by a long pink arm coming out and grabbing me. I fought the urge to scream, despite the yellow hand over my mouth as it took me into the gap. I smiled as Kissy Missy and Poppy looked down at me, glad that they were both okay.“Sssshh!” Poppy warned, putting a finger to her lips.That was when I heard the clanking of metal. I looked on in horror as the shadow of a spider-like creature crawled by the gap. It looked absolutely massive! I was glad as the clanking got further away from us.Poppy and Kissy stayed calm as they looked back at the gap.Kissy carried me in the opposite direction, as Poppy whispered, “Through the showers. We should be able to make it into the Safe Haven from there.”I watched as Kissy leaned toward another gap in the wall, this one a bit bigger than the other.“When I say so, we go.” Poppy looked outward, checking if it was safe, “GO!”On that note, I sprinted out of the gap and headed right until we came to the shower room. I ran past a Mommy Long Legs cutout, not stopping to press the button for fear of it alerting the creature. Kissy got in front of me, as she banged on the huge yellow doors.As the doors opened, the three of us rushed inside and got to safety.“Hurry, close it!” Poppy shouted as we stopped, watching as the doors were quick to do so.Doey ran to our aid, stating,“What’s going on? Whats…” He stopped when he saw how bruised and banged up Kissy looked, also allowing me to take her condition in as well, “Kissy! Goodness, what happened?”“We need to get her help. Now!” Poppy spoke with urgency.“Poppy?” Doey confusedly asked, “Is… is that really…?” He stopped, noting the urgency of the matter, “Right. Take her to one of the beds. I’ll check the defenses, see if something’s still outside.” He peeked through the doors.Poppy stepped up to him, “Not just something… It’s him! He’s out there.”“You brought him down…” Doey immediately turned to face her, anger in his tone of voice; he quickly calmed himself, sighing as he put a hand to his forehead, “We’ll talk about this later. For now, I’ll make sure ‘out there’ is where he stays.”As Doey ran off, the small green robot that guarded the door stated, “Locking down Safe Haven. Reactivating defenses.”Poppy directing Kissy to one of the makeshift beds caught my attention, “Over here.”Kissy carefully sat down, weakly looking at Poppy approaching, “Get some rest, okay?”I stepped away with her as Poppy came back over to me; she seemed to be in disbelief as she spoke, “I… I didn’t know it had gotten this bad… I” She had guilt in her voice, and then that was taken over by determination, “I need to make this right!” She looked at me, “What I said on the elevator, it’s true. The orphans weren’t killed during the Hour of Joy. They were taken. They’re below , in the labs. The Prototype’s home. They are alive, but sleeping. They’re with HIM, and HE knows we’re HERE. So, if we’re going to free them and stop the Prototype, we need to plan for both at the same time. The Red Smoke you’ve directed from Playcare… It’s an accelerant. All it needs is high pressure and a little spark, and it ignites. The plan is this: we’ll fill the foundation with the smoke, and line it with old mining charges. Then once you, me and Kissy have freed the orphans, our friends here will blow this place sky high. That’s our revenge.” She paused, “For now, go to Doey. See what he needs. I’ll be here…”I watched as Poppy went back to comfort Kissy and make sure she was okay, before heading off to explore the Safe Haven. I noticed that a lot of the toys in this area were mini Kissys and the mini Smiling Critters - which I was glad weren’t attacking me -. I overheard the conversation between the mini Hoppy and Bubba.“What’s POPPY doing here?” One spoke in a hushed tone.“I don’t know. They just let her in.” The second replied in a hurried tone.“Why? That’s inviting a whole lot of trouble we don’t need! I mean, how do we even know we can trust her this time?”“We don’t know, so let’s just be careful… especially around her… new friend.”“The employee… Can’t forget that.” Wow, rude.“Ssh, I think they might be listening.”I muttered, heading past them, “Yeah, no shit… I’m literally standing right next to you, how could I not hear that?”Seeing a Picky on their own, I approached them. I smiled at them, “Hi!”“Is Kissy going to be okay?” The small pig asked, looking up at me with those huge black orbs.“Umm, I think so… I certainly hope so.” I answered, rubbing my arm as I went in the direction of the little Crafty Corn.“Hiya pal, got something I wanna talk to you about.” Doey stood beside the doors to the Auxiliary Power room, taking off his hat as I approached. He pointed toward the room, sounding more serious, the more he talked, “In here.”

I tailed behind him, seeing he stood beside the generator.“I heard what you did above… What you survived… If it’s all true, then we need your help.” He looked off into the distance, “The voice out there… the one in the prison… They called him ‘The Doctor’, Dr Harley Sawyer. He was the scientist in charge of creating…” He turned his head toward the generator, making me think of when actor’s overshot it in pantomimes, “us…” He looked back at me, “We don’t know what he is, how he’s still alive, but he works with the Prototype. Hunting us. Starving us. Making us sick and… gah!” He was getting angrier as he spoke, hiding his face when he realised. He quickly calmed down, sighing and lowering his hands from his face.“He controls it all with an Omni-hand, we think. The executives used them. It’s a battery, a key, the master control to anything in the entire factory, and with it he commands everything down here…” He turned toward the generator, kneeling beside it and putting a hand on it, “Everything, but this…Runs completely on its own grid. Away from the prison. For a time, it’s kept us safe. But now…” He stood back up, “I need you to stop the Doctor… to take the Omni-hand. We’ll need it for the generator, and if you want Red Smoke in the Foundation, you’ll need it too..” He pointed a large digit at me, narrowing his eyes. He looked toward the door we had entered, “The toys out there, in Safe Haven, they’re my family… I understand what Poppy wants, what she believes is right. Destroy the factory. Destroy him.”As Doey stepped closer, he begged, “But, I ask you to consider, if we throw everything away. Everyone. Just to kill the Prototype… How much do we waste? I know the others might believe it’s right. That we should bury everything, but…” He sighed, taking off his hat in a mournful manner, “Let’s just think about it. Head for the infirmary whenever you’re ready to leave. There’s sewer access inside. That’s your safest path to the No Man’s Land… and to him… But, if you need to catch your breath, our Safe Haven is also yours.”“Thank you, Doey. I think I’ll pause here for a minute.” I smiled as he went back to the generator. I wandered around the Safe Haven, seeing what I was able to spot.A small Dogday and Catnap talked amongst each other as I passed them.“Won’t last much longer…” The Catnap muttered, leaning on his friend for support.“My stomach… it hurts…” The Dogday added on.“Mine too…”“When’s the last time you ate?” Dogday asked.“I… Can’t remember, honestly.”I was still trying to listen as I approached the little TV further along. Not finding a VHS tape, I headed off to explore more. I felt so bad for them, they sounded like they were in pain.“Neither can I… but it feels like forever.”“Which’ll kill us first, you think, The Doctor or hunger?”“I prefer not to even think about it.”I strolled back through the infirmary again, walking past a Kickin Chicken.“Please, do you have any food?” He begged, looking up at me.“No, I’m sorry…” I apologised as I continued, “But, I’m sure we’ll be able to get some when we complete Poppy’s plan. Just hang on a bit longer.”Ugh, why wasn’t I able to do anything for them? I felt like crap that I couldn’t give them any food to eat. Not even a scrap.Carrying on, I found a yellow tape underneath one of the beds nearby. Picking it up, I headed for the yellow TV set that was near the little chicken. I put the tape in, and waited for the TV to come to life.One of the voices to first speak whistled, “Long way down. So, this is what we have to work with?”I recognised the second voice as the 3rd executive, Eddie Ritterman, “Do you believe it’s doable?”“Sure, yeah, it’s doable…” The first voice was unsure.“Good. Remember, our timetable here is tight.” Ritterman stated, “If there’s anything you need from me, do not hesitate to -”“Actually…” The first voice interrupted, “I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.” He sounded more serious as he said, “It’s important.”“I’m listening.”“My company, we’ve built a lot for you over the years, and believe me, we’ve always been accommodating. We just did the work you paid us to do…”“And your point here is…?”The man speaking to Ritterman sighed, “I don’t like what I’m supposed to be building here. Look, the Game Station? Whatever, it’ll be fun for the kids. Underground production plants? Sure. Maximise production. Makes… a kind of.. Sense. As much as any of this, I suppose… But, THIS! What in the world would a toy company need with a prison?!”That’s what I said!“When my people were building Playcare, all Mr Ludwig could talk about was how much good it could do, and all you needed was a look at the man to know he believed every word of it… I need to hear that this is still the same company. If we’re going to make this thing for you, then I need that assurance… I-i-it’s a game! Something for the kids. ANYTHING?!” He paused, “Mr Ritterman?”“Let me give you a bit of history, friend. In 1972, you signed a contract. A legally binding piece of paper that says whatever is asked of you, you do it. We asked, you did.” Despite his calm demeanour, Ritterman sounded so intimidating, threatening, “In 1990, you signed another. A renewal. In it, had you bothered at all to read it, you’d have found a small clause. ‘Any and all directives will be accomplished in the appropriate time, and with appropriate compensation should the project be completed to satisfaction.’ Your name rests at the bottom of that document, and I remember because it was the ugliest bit of cursive I’ve ever seen.”Wow, that wasn’t called for. That made me think, maybe Ritterman was a bit stuck up. I didn’t encounter him much, so I can’t say for certain, but from the tapes he did give that impression.“So now, you do the work because we’ve given you a directive.” He sounded like he got uncomfortably close to the first man.“M-Mr Ritterman… W-we’re near the -”“Yes, yes we are. ALL of us are. On a ledge. Great things are coming. Great things that will someday make a lot of people very happy. But, to do so, to make that dream real, we need this. Otherwise, there’s a place we’ll all fall. Together.” I got the feeling as he told the man this, he straightened his tie, “I’m a businessman, Mr Silva, and I don’t like to get angry. I get paid to see that things get done, and this, like everything else, will get done.”The screen went to black, indicating the video had finished. Wandering further through the infirmary, I found a large hole that went into a long tunnel. Following the tunnel, I ended up in the sewers. I trudged through, hearing running water somewhere.“I think you might be wrong, Poppy. What you want…” Doey’s voice was heard echoing, unaware that I was able to hear the conversation between him and Poppy.“It’s the best for everyone, Doey. That no trace of this place is left. We agreed to that.” Poppy argued back.“I know! But, us, everyone in there… We’re not just things gone wrong. We’re people… Can’t you see that?”“I can, and… I’m sorry…”“They look up to me, Poppy, and I’ve looked after them the best I could.” I was still able to hear their conversation as I went through the sewers and found a scrap metal that I was able to climb up to get to a ledge.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I trailed into a room, finding a huge lift and getting onto it. It stopped at one of the production rooms, the VAT looking as if it had algae in it. Going past the control panel for it, I found some notes on Doey - or part of him, 1322C -. Heading onward, I found a green tape on the shelf and decided to play it on the matching TV on the other side of the VAT.“After a brief… interruption, we’ve successfully extracted Subject 1322. Specifically, 1322B, from the Home Sweet Home. Before said interruption, I attempted to detail the subject’s condition, and overview the stability of one ‘Kevin Barnes’ in relation to ‘Project Doey’. The ‘neural abnormalities’ noted in Dr Newman’s report are detailed in connection to behavioral issues demonstrated within Playcare. Troubling getting along with others, aggressive, and often confrontational social tendencies, and an otherwise combative nature clearly relay that Kevin is, put simply, a problem child. What friends he DOES have, he’s reported to have attacked in moments of… intense play.” That made me think about how Doey's personality shifted quickly from time to time, especially when he got emotional, “These tendencies raise concerns. The subject excels in all physical tests. Reflexes, reaction time, and mental fortitude all tested well above average in Game Station Examinations. So, in spite of said concerns, in Dr Sawyer’s eyes, Kevin is ideal for the project. However, if his use in this particular experiment is to move forward, we need to ensure we’re not creating a time bomb just as we’ve begun stabilizing the entire project. If we’re to create an experiment that can fulfill multiple assigned roles, we can’t allow any single consciousness to throw the others off… Even a simple misregulation of emotions means we have… ” The scientist seemed to lose his composure for a moment, “NINE HUNDRED pounds of dough that can shift however it pleases and can turn on even those it trusts, simply because it was overwhelmed by a stray feeling…”I felt so bad for the boys inside Doey, having read the earlier reports that 2 other boys were inside of him. It was just chaos waiting to happen, all those thoughts and feelings. 3 different perspectives. One not even being a teen, and the other two just over that. It must be so confusing for poor Doey.The scientist sighed, “Regardless, Sawyer’s word is law, and Subjects 1322A and C are to be gathered for processing first thing tomorrow morning… Thus, all we can do is plan our safeguards accordingly…” He laughed in disbelief, “Yes, that’s ALL we can do…”I stepped back as the tape had finished, and all I wanted to do was go run to find Doey so I could give him a huge hug. Instead, I pressed the red button to the Doey cutout close by. Listening to the clips, I looked over the gears on the walls. I giggled at the bad puns he made, and hummed along to the song. I got startled at the static noises that came afterwards.I stepped away, hearing the phone ring.Ollie answered, still staticy, “Hey, hey, can you hear me? …. There’s some… When you get the Omni-hand… Hopefully it’s nothing… Might not be…”“Ollie?” I asked, no answer coming as the phone had hung up again.Shrugging, I tugged the little cart I had found along, getting it to the points to turn them from red to green. I had to move some carts that had posts on them, putting them at the points that I needed them. I found a charging point that I could put my blue hand on, stretching it to connect to the two posts, and then pressing the red hand to the panel of the door.It opened the door, showing some tracks. The bodies of the Smiling Critters scattered around the area made me sad. They didn’t deserve that. I pushed further into the cavern that looked as if there was construction. The chain above the chasm gave me a way across, using the grab pack to swing across.It was darker on this side, more eerie too. I was quick to turn on my torch, spotting the large double doors. The red and blue hands scanned the panels on either side. As that door opened, so did a pair of yellow ones on the opposite side. Giant paws that had long claws attached pawed at the slowly opening doors.It was Yarnaby! He emerged with his maw open, looking hungry. I took that as my leave and headed for the yellow doors instead. Running through, the doors closed behind me. I saw wires leading to a button. I tried to press it, but it didn’t seem to do anything at first. To see how to put it on, I followed the room around to a computer. This looked right to me so I pulled the lever, lighting the thick cable attached to it in blue. I followed the wire back to the button, pressing it and opening the red shutter.“Ah,” I found a red key card, and put that through the scanner I saw before. After scanning it, I heard Yarnaby’s screeches, and jumped onto a moving conveyor belt that contained large rocks. I saw it was coming to a stop, so I grabbed the handle at the top of the cave to swing.This led me to some more cables, not lit. I pulled a lever that I saw from the corner of my eyes, and pressed the button across from me. That lit up the wires, giving me a way further into some caves. I followed them around until I stopped at a blue panel, scanning it and opening the shutter in front of me. The area I ended up in, it was large and felt like a large metal maze that was shrouded in darkness. There were black and red wires everywhere, indicating that they weren’t switched on.“Hmm, this looks fun…” I sighed, squeezing in and out of gaps. I was being careful in case Yarnaby was nearby.I pulled a lever to another one of those computers, turning one of those cables blue. It also brought on the lights. I powered up the blue scanner to one of the machine stations. My gaze shifted as I heard a grate shaft open and shut. I froze in place when I heard roaring and stomping.He seemed to sniff about the area, stomping around. He was hunting me. Before he was able to find me, I ran up the stairs beside me and scanned the 2nd scanner. I was in the middle of the scan, when Yarnaby made an appearance. Out of panic, I fell down off the platform. It hurt like Hell, but the blue hand still attached to the scan as I fell helped ease that.It was a narrow escape, as he was quick to follow. I hid within a gap where he was able to reach me, cowering as his paws barely fit. I was just out of reach.“Yarnaby, my dear boy, change of plans.” The Doctor’s voice announced, “Bring the little bug to me. No harm to her.”That command calmed the lion-dog as he closed his large mouth, hiding the hidden double mouth within. He sat, patiently waiting like a dog for its master.To test the waters, I slowly stepped forward and stuck my hand out. When he didn’t attack my hand, I emerged from my hiding spot. I giggled when he bowed excitedly, wagging his butt like a dog wagging its tail.“Heh, I guess you aren’t so bad when you’re not in hunter mode…” I petted Yarnaby’s head, feeling the yarn underneath my fingers. I gave him some scratches behind - what I assumed was - his ears and he liked it, “Your master took a bit of a liking to me, then huh? I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or not.”Yarnaby gave what sounded like a yip, indicating for me to come with him. The lion-dog toy led me through quite a few twists and turns until we came to a shutter. Yarnaby sat, like the good boy he was, and waited.“Good boy,” I smiled at him, causing him to become excited a little as his butt wiggled again.“So sentimental, little pet.” Harley’s voice came over the loudspeaker, his eye coming on the security monitor above the door, “The beast is merely following orders.”“That’s why he’s a good boy.” I stuck my tongue out at the screen, patting Yarnaby again.The Doctor chuckled at that, opening the shutter in front of us, “Yarnaby, go guard.”With his command given, the lion-dog went back the way he had brought me, leaving me to enter on my own.“And I’m supposed to find my way around on my own?” I raised an eyebrow at the screen, folding my arms.“I’m sure you’ll find your way, pet. Just be sure to follow the Yellow brick road.” He taunted, hinting at the yellowish white tiles that made up the flooring.“Was that a movie reference, Dr Sawyer?” I teased, “I didn’t think you had it in you.”He stuttered over the thought, “Please, like I’d stoop to such levels. I don’t have the time or the patience for such menial activities.”“Heh, well you just did.” I winked, “Whether you like it or not, and I’m guessing by that, that you don’t.”“Just… come in…” He shut his screen off.“Coming right in,” I smirked, looking straight at the camera.As I stepped beyond the shutter, it closed behind me. Feeling a bit more at ease that a giant lion-dog was no longer hunting me, I strolled around the area. It felt like it wasn’t used by many people even when the factory was active. The further I went, I found an old office. I spotted that the name: Dr White was printed on the plaque of the door in gold. I entered the plain looking office, curious to what was inside, and glad I did because I found a red VHS tape I was able to play on the TV that sat in the corner of the room.I glanced around, taking in my surroundings before entering the tape into the VHS player. The walls were an off-white colour, though mould and dust were settling on the wallpaper. I was able to see that the wallpaper peeled, the desk in the middle looked on its last legs and there was paperwork scattered everywhere. There wasn’t anything dangerous in this room, so I slid the tape into the TV and waited.The TV sprung to life, showing an image of wedding rings on the screen.“Dr White…” A knock came at the door, a timid voice asked before entering.“Ah, yes, Mrs Sawyer, correct?” Mrs Sawyer?! The Doctor was married? No way, maybe it was just a coincidence. I listened as Dr White continued, “I have to say, when I got your email, I wasn’t even sure it was real. Not many of us, here, knew of your existence, until it was confirmed. I am glad you’re here, there is a matter I wanted to discuss with you concerning your, well, your husband…”“...We’re separated.” The woman flatly answered; well, that answered it, “Have been for almost a year.”“I apologize, um, Mrs…?”“Sawyer…I still kept the Sawyer name, for the sake of - what my ex-husband claims - is his legacy. I kept it for… personal reasons.” She trailed off, before her attention was brought back to the reason she was visiting, “I wanted to discuss why Dr Sawyer was not answering me? It’s unusual he wouldn’t… I know he’s… passionate about his work, but he always answers me.”“Mrs Sawyer...” Dr White was silent for a moment, thinking on how to proceed, “I feel I should tell you that Dr Sawyer is … a very busy, uh, man.”“I understand that, but…” She was distressed, sounding as if she was being pushed out of the room.“But, he might not have the time to answer.” Dr White stated, only to be stopped.“Listen!” She yelled, “I know Harley. He would not go without answering me. He is always the one to ask how my day is going… despite the separation… He isn’t one to just not answer… Let alone for over 3 months…”There was a long pause, before Dr White sighed, “Can I ask why you came looking for him, if there is a separation?”“You may… if it helps me to see him…”“... It…” He was hesitant to answer her, “It may.”“... Harley and I have a child… I wanted to tell him… have for the last year, but his work is important to him… I… He probably would have felt they got in the way, so I kept it from him.” Mrs Sawyer answered.That was a bit of a shock. I didn’t see Harley as being one for children, even if it was his own. It appeared that the shock was mutual between myself and Dr White as he was silent for sometime.“... There is some information that you need to hear, before I take you to see your… um, before I take you to see Dr Sawyer…” Dr White finally stated, “Here, sit down…”With that the video ended and TV shut off, it was definitely some news to process. It made me wonder if Harley knew of any of this, if his wife… ex-wife actually told him about the child. His child. For the time being, I decided to keep that fact to myself, just in case. Wandering back out of the room, the feeling of being watched was prominent. I smirked as I saw the security camera following my every move.“Little pet,” He warned, “Do stay where I can see you. You don’t know what’s lurking within these halls.”“Come down here, and tell me that yourself.” I grinned, “I go where I want.”“Hmm, I’m going to have to teach you to be more obedient.”I teased, heading onward, “I’d like to see you try.”“This way,” He opened the doors, leading me.Into a dark room, I strolled and waited to see what was going to happen. I squinted when I saw something move in the back of the room. I stepped back, readying my flare gun in case it was a Nightmare critter. When they eventually came into view, I fired anyway in fear that it was something that was going to attack.“Ah!” The voice shrieked, ducking out of the way, only just being missed by the flare.The light of the flare allowed me to see that the thing in the dark was the robot form of Harley himself, and not one of his mini versions or the Critters. He had covered himself from being hit, his arms shielding his screen face and his cloak covering the rest of him.I laughed, quickly gaining my composure, “Did little ol’ me scare the great Doctor?”“No…” He cleared his throat as his voice had cracked, standing upright and putting his hands behind his back, “No, you didn’t, my dear.”“Yeah? And what do I owe the pleasure of you coming to meet me yourself?”He stepped closer, pointing at me, “To make sure YOU are going where you are meant to.”“Aw, I feel SO honoured,” I grinned, leaning in to give him a kiss on the screen; I giggled when I saw that the screen glitched for a second, “Was that blushing, Dr Sawyer? Did I just make The Doctor blush?”“Not one bit…” He had a flustered tone to his voice, turning away, “Your silly little actions merely damaged my screen for a second.”“Yeah, okay…” I smirked, following as he led the way toward a room with a hospital bed, “So what were these ‘change of plans’?”He stopped, towering over me; the eye on the screen had a hint of mischief in it, one that was directed at me. He stepped incredibly close, his hand reaching for my cheek, “You… dear, are something special. I wish to experiment with you further.”“Oh? Like the experiment you did earlier?” I teased, flushing at how close he was to me.“No need to act like that. I can sense your arousal from across the room, pet.” He chuckled, grabbing at my hips to pull me into him.I dared him, my face being inches from his screen,“Yeah.. and what are you going to do about it?”“Oh, little bug, you’re stepping into dangerous territory there.” He chuckled, before grabbing my hair and dragging me over to the bed. He chucked me down, standing over me, “You fight, but it is futile.”I whimpered as he pressed a knee between my legs; I moaned when his hand went to my throat.“You do realise how easily I could crush your windpipe, right?” He taunted, hovering over me; he laughed, “Of course you do. That’s why you’re MY little pervert.”“H-Harley…” Whimpering breaths left my mouth, a small smirk at the corner of my mouth.“I’m going to make you mine, little germ. Your holes are going to fit me and only me. Your holes will accommodate me and no one else. But first...” He stepped away for a moment, getting the leather straps from the sides of the bed; he hummed as he tightened them around my wrists. “Just some insurance to make sure you stay put.”“Please….”“‘Please’ what, my dear?” He loomed over me, chuckling as he watched me writhe underneath him as he spoke, “Do you want me to ‘experiment’ further with you? Are you imagining such deprived sexual acts with me, hmm?”“...Yes…” My breath gone, the pressure building between my thighs causing me to rub them as best as I was able to. I tried to move my wrists, forgetting that they were strapped to the bed.“Naughty little pervert.” He laughed, and then pressed his hand against my lower region. His voice was serious, “I created something special for you… Something I believe your perverted little mind would enjoy..”“O-oh? I’m intrigued…” I panted, grinning despite the distraction growing between my legs.“Of course you are, pervert.” He stepped back, leaving me disappointed at the lack of contact between us.“Go on then, what’s your ‘special’ something?” I lifted my head, trying to see what he was doing. My eyes widened with joy as he shifted his cloak out of his way, showing that his body wasn’t like the other robot Harleys. In fact, it was humanoid with some very accurate human anatomy. “... Now that’s definitely a special surprise… and you did THAT just for ME? Aw, you shouldn’t have.”“Be a good girl and keep quiet.”“Whatever you say, Dr Sawyer.” I grinned as he neared me again, “Are you gonna give me a reward if I do?”He stepped beside my head, grabbing my hair and yanking my head back as a way to get me to look him in the eye; he leaned over, eye lidded, “As much as I LOVE you saying my name, little bug… I believe a better name is needed between us… What was it that you called me earlier? …Daddy? Yes, I quite like that… Daddy says, BEG… Beg me for release, my little pervert.”“F-f-fuck…Why’s that sound so hot, when you say it?” I found my thighs rubbing together, even more so when he stepped back around to the end of the table; my chest rose and fell heavily as I waited for him to make a move, seeing that he looked down at me with a smirk in his eye, “Just fuck me already!”“Ah-ah, little one…” He crawled onto the table, hovering over me once again, “You didn’t ask nicely. Why don’t you obey for once?”“Harley… Please…” I begged, feeling frustrated that he was so close but not close enough.“Better… but still…Let’s see if THIS gets the right response out of you, hmm?” He reached a hand toward my clit, pressing hard against it, once removing the shorts and tights I had on. He liked the reaction of me squirming against his touch, trying to get a bit of friction going between us. His fingers wormed their way inside me, pumping to a rhythm only he knew. “Well, little pet?”“Oh, fuck…”“Not there yet, hmm? Well, I guess I could prolong my special gift until you give in.” He continued pumping, pressing his thumb against my clit, whilst his free hand reached for my neck, lightly hovering over, “What about now?”A deep breath escaped my throat, as I panted. I was feeling impatient, just wanting him to try his so-called ‘special gift’ on me, but at the same time I loved when he called me his good girl… I… wanted to give in, but at the same time, try to push his buttons.He taunted, “Bug… come now, I can tell you want this… Now, be a good girl and give in. Give in and I will fuck you nice and roughly into this table.”I felt the heat between my thighs getting stronger the longer he talked, “F-f-fuck…”“Come… on…” He leaned in, pressing harder against my clit as he drew out his words.I gave in, “.... Da… Daddy, please, fuck!”“There you go! Good girl!” He chuckled, removing his hands; he steadied himself on the table, readying his ‘special’ gift, “Oh, darling, I do hope you’re able to take this, because I am going to fuck you so hard.”I weakly laughed, “Are you sure this table is made for that?”“It’s strong enough.” He stated, before softly adding, “Let me know if it is too much… I tried to make it soft enough for you…”

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“Oh fuck me!” I yelled, finally able to move my hands as Harley had unbuckled the straps; I grabbed at the cloak that was wrapped around his body, wanting to grip onto anything, and pulled him closer, “H-Harley!”“Such a good little bug.” He chuckled, arms embracing me as he thrusted harshly into me again, “You take me very nicely.”“So… So big!” My head threw back, ecstasy taking over my body. The feeling of the silicone dick was both hard and soft. It glided nicely in and out of me, whilst still having a firmness that a hard dick did.“Good girl…” He grunted, a sense of pride in his voice. His screen switched between various eyes as he continued, “...F-f-fuck…”“Such language, Dr Sawyer.” I panted between breaths, only to earn an extra harsh thrust from him, “Bloody Hell!”He chuckled at the response, “...Enjoying yourself there, my dear?”“More than!” My legs wrapped tightly around him, trying to get deeper. Whimpers and moans escaped my throat with every thrust he did.“Dear, those noises you make…” He huffed, hands groping my breasts and pulling out, “They’re like -”At that moment, the silicone dick broke off just as it came out of me, causing both of our eyes to widen. Both of us stayed in an embrace for a short moment, before he pulled apart - his screen showed a red eye in place, though it flickered between other eyes that I wasn’t able to see.“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” He yelled, kicking at a nearby metal cabinet causing it to clatter across the room and send the medical supplies flying, “If only I had… I knew it was not… Ugh!”I watched with concern as I stayed seated on the hospital bed. As he hung his head, however, I jumped down and approached him from behind. I hugged his tall form, wrapping my arms around what should have been his waist.“Such a failure!” He muttered, putting a hand to his bowed head, “I should have made it more secure… I knew it wasn't right…”“Harley, it’s fine, really!” I stepped in front of him, holding his TV head in my hands, “You’ve gotten further than most would have. Please, don’t be hard on yourself. You’re not a failure!”“You would think that, little bug…” He gave a condescending laugh, his eye narrowing at me as he spoke, “What have you achieved, that you could say that to the likes of me?”I frowned at his response, getting rather tired of his ‘I’m better than everyone’ attitude toward the other employees in this shithole. I grabbed hold of the wires that connected his head to his neck, yanking on them to tilt his head back, “Listen, here, Dr fucking Sawyer -”The moan that came from him, I did not expect that. It was loud, slutty sounding.I felt the smirk grow on my face as his monitor turned a pinkish colour.“Wait, what was that?” I giggled, “Did you just…?”“...No.” He stated trying to turn away. He moaned again when I pulled on the same wires.“Oh,” Something flipped in me; something that caused my eyes to widen in excitement at this discovery. The grin on my face was unmistakable.“Don’t even think about it!” He exclaimed, turning back to face me. His eye was wide as I dared to step closer.“Sawyer,” I grabbed hold of him, bringing him close to me, “You’re going to listen to ME now, understand? My turn to be in control, you control freak. You just relax.”Harley’s gaze never left me as I pushed him back onto the hospital bed and then went in search of a tool to open him up. His eye narrowed as I approached with a screwdriver, opening the part of his chest cavity. “What-”I tugged on a couple of the wires inside of him, trying to see which got the best reaction out of him. The blue wire caused him to squirm slightly, whilst the red caused his head to be thrown back. I grinned when the green one made a whimper escape from him.“You’re such a good boy…” I told him, my face inches from his screen, “Fuck, Harley… I wish you had lips… I want to kiss you so bad right now…”“... Those… Those desires are mutual… Little Pervert.” He breathlessly chuckled, “You certainly know your way around things, dear.”“How about I carry on? I certainly love the sounds that came out of you. Makes a change, doesn’t it?” I smirked at him.“I-” He began, looking down at me with a lidded eye, and brushed back my hair that had fallen in my face; his eye twitched when a knock came at the door, “One moment.”He approached the door, cloak draped back over him, as he answered furiously and stepped out of the room, “What?!”I was unable to see who - or what - had caused him to react that way, other than obviously being interrupted. Instead, I just stayed put, waiting for his return. I smiled when he returned.“I have to go, my dear. Something has… come up. I shall leave you to explore for the time being.” He gathered up the ‘special’ gift he had made, hiding it beneath his cloak, “Do not wander where you’re not meant to.”“Or what, you’ll punish me?” I teased, leaning into the metal hand that brushed against my cheek, “You forget, Dr Sawyer, I know your true weakness now.”“Hmm,” He mused, “You’re not so much an Angel as Poppy thinks. Dirty little pervert. Stay in the profanity of this room, and I will be back as soon as I can. I will be sure to fix up your special gift in the meantime.”“Looking forward to it, Doctor.” I grinned at him as he exited the room in a hurrying manner, cloak flaring out behind him as he did.Left alone, I redressed and put my grab pack back on. I decided to explore the area, feeling like he was going to be gone for a while. I happened upon an office that had planks across the door, which I made quick work of with my blue hand. Peeking my head inside the room, I saw that it was safe to enter.The room had tiles missing from certain spots that exposed the concrete floor beneath it, and the walls were in no better shape. It appeared that it was used as a social room of sorts, as there were couches tipped over and a vending machine in the corner. I was quick to spot the TV on the wall in the corner of the room, so went in search of a VHS tape, knowing there was likely one close by.A purple VHS was located underneath one of the couch cushions, only just about being seen from where I stood. Crouching down, I was able to grab it and noticed the name: ‘NeVer LeT Go’ printed on the label. I got back up, heading over to the VCR player and putting the tape in. As I put the tape in, the TV came to life, and it showed an image of a heart laid on a surgical table.“In here, Mrs Sawyer.” Dr White stated, letting the woman into the room.“I have to say… Having heard what you and my… husband get up to here… I was initially shocked…” She told him, following into the room.“And, what are your impressions now?”“I mean, I’m not surprised. Harley is an intelligent man. I’m not exactly shocked that he would use…” She choked on her words, trying to get them out, “... would use orphans… He can be a heartless bastard at times. As for those incidents you mentioned, the ones that lead to him being unable to answer for the last 3 months, those did in fact plague him. He had come home numerous times, stating that his ‘experiment’ didn’t go to plan… That he didn’t intend for some of the results that happened.”“So, there are SOME things he regrets?”“To… To a degree, I believe he does.” She paused, “Why have you brought me here? I -”As they stepped into a room, it caused her to stop speaking altogether. The clinking of heels on tiled floors as they approached something was the only sound coming from the TV at the moment, otherwise I would have thought the VHS had finished.“W-What is that?” She was both intrigued and horrified. I assumed she was looking at the machine that had the brain inside it because I honestly felt the same when I was looking at it.Harley’s voice spoke, “It is I, Lacey. I’m here”“That’s… That’s…Harley?”“It is.” Dr White confirmed, “It… It was done.. Uh, as a precautionary… Directives from Leith Pierre.”Harley’s voice echoed, anger rising within, “Precautionary?! Why you -”“Harley!” Lacey stepped in, “Please, I just wanted to discuss something with you… I was worried something had happened to you… I… I know it’s not an ideal reunion, but I’m glad to hear your voice.”Harley sounded calmer as he spoke to her, “My apologies, my dear, what was it you wanted to discuss?”She took a deep breath before responding, “... I wanted to talk about… about the child we have.”There seemed to be an infinity of silence before the confused doctor spoke again, “Child?”“Yeah… I wanted to make you aware that you have one… I… I was afraid to tell you back when I got pregnant because you were so focused on your project… I didn’t want to pin you down with that…But, I… I thought about it and I thought you had a right to know.” She was keen on getting the words out as fast as she was able to, “I wanted to tell you for the last year, Harley… Since the separation…”“You mean the separation that YOU wanted…” He was bitter about that statement, but his voice turned hopeful, “Why do you come back? To taunt me? To reconcile our relationship?”“... No, I don’t intend on getting back with you. I wanted to tell you in person about the baby. I tried to get in contact with you for so long, to only get nothing in return. I… I thought it was unusual why you weren’t replying since you typically checked in with me… Now I know why.”“Is a child not a reason to get back together?” He was beginning to sound like he was a possessive husband, if he wasn’t before.“No, Harley, it’s not a reason to stay together.” She yelped when something metallic stepped up behind her.“Sawyer, let her go!” Dr White yelled from beside them, struggling.It appeared that a Harley Body had grabbed Mrs Sawyer as he tried to protest, “Having a child is the best reason to stay together!”“Harley, honey, I love you but a child isn’t a reason to stay together.. not when there’s too much hurt…” She tried to reason with him, her being the more sane mind of the two, the more reasonable. “Let me go Harley… please.”He simmered on her statement, only to respond with, “No. I’ll never have to let you go… Not again.”“No!” She screeched, fighting something.A clattering came, and then a remorseful Dr White stated, “I’m so sorry, Mrs Sawyer…”“Be gentle with her, White, or I’ll make you pay. Remember, this is what you OWE me for what you did to me.”With that, the video ended and left me wondering what had happened to Lacey Sawyer after that. My first thought: she had been killed off, or at least kept in the factory close to Harley as much as possible until the Hour of Joy. I wasn’t sure what to think after that. Why was he coming on to me if he had his wife? Surely he would have protected her to the best of his ability during that horrid event or had a change of heart and let her go?Keeping those thoughts in mind, I continued to explore.

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The thoughts stuck with me as I wandered around; I was so in my head that I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings, keeping my head down as I walked. I was unable to stop my thoughts racing, thinking about the VHS I had just listened to. What was contained on it, what happened to those in the VHS, so many questions running through my head. I was still in my thoughts when I bumped into something hard.I glanced up, frowning, and rubbed my butt from the short fall to the floor, “Rude…”“Maybe you should keep your eyes on where you’re going, little bug.” The Doctor looked down at me, seeming to grin, “Something on your mind, huh?”“Um… no… Not really… Just lost in thoughts, I guess.” I answered, being helped up by him; I felt my cheeks burn as he brought me into him, “If you wanted to get close, Doctor, you just needed to ask.”“Hmm,” He hummed, keeping me in place, “You really think I am one to ask for something, dear?”“That’s true,” I smirked, and then glanced to the right of him, seeing something that interested me that caused me to push away from him, “Ooo!”“Where are you going now, my little one?” He trudged behind, following me to an office door. His metal feet clanked against the tile floor as he stepped toward me.I stopped in front of the door, seeing the nameplate on it: “Dr Harley Sawyer? This is your office?”He chuckled at my excitement, “It appears so… Did you not think I had one, considering I was head of the project?”“Yeah, but I didn’t think I’d be able to find it. Now I’m curious.” I entered the room with him coming in behind me.Harley watched as I explored around the office, looking at various folders. When I touched one he didn’t want me to, he told me, “Put that down, you have no need to look at that, pet.”“Oh, now I want to look at it even more.” I grinned, only to earn a scowling eye in return. I rolled my eyes in response, reluctantly putting it down, “Fine…”
I glanced over when the chair he sat in creaked, and then carried on exploring. A smile spread over my face as I found an old Playtime Co ID on the bookshelf. Using my shirt sleeve, I cleared away the dirt and grit to show who the ID belonged to. My smile widened into a grin as I saw the photo of the ID’s owner: Dr Harley Sawyer.“Hey, you were quite hot when you were human!” I showed him the card, still grinning, “Really grumpy looking though… Wait, I think I recognise you…”“Quite?” He raised his eyebrow, though his tone of voice had a hint of teasing to it, “And here I was thinking you were attracted to me for my personality. I wouldn’t be surprised if you do, you forget how important I was to this place, my dear.”“Hmm, more your voice really…” I hummed quietly, thinking about it, “I didn’t really have much to do with Playcare, so how would I know you were a doctor? My friend must have told me about you… or seen you around?”“I suppose there’s truth to that.” He tilted his head, watching me as I moved around the office again.Feeling watched from behind, I grinned, “Are you looking at my ass, Dr Sawyer? That isn’t very doctor-like of you.”“Merely observing, dear.” He countered, though the smirk in his voice was clear and his gaze stayed on me.I smirked to myself, coming up with an idea; seeing the metal paper-weight on the shelf, I knocked it to the floor, “Oops! Guess I should pick that up.” I bent over, pretending to pick the item up, whilst giving a full view to Harley, “That a good enough observation for you, Harley?”A flustered voice came from him, “... Bitch…” causing me to giggle, and he told me, “You’re not as innocent as others may believe. I know you did that on purpose…”“Did I?” I tilted my head, smiling. I strolled over to him and sat in his lap, causing him to lean back in the seat. There was a smirk that appeared on my face as I felt him heating up, “It’s hot in here, isn't it?”He was breathless as he spoke, “...Must… Must be the damn machinery in this old toy factory…”“Oh, so not you?” I leaned in close to his screen, grinning; I poked his chest with a finger.“...No…” He cleared his throat, seeming to cool off, “No, darling. Not at all.”“Hmm, I’m not sure I believe that.” I smiled as I stood up, heading over to the desk.He watched as I sat on his desk, folding my leg over the over whilst grinning all the while. He tilted his head, raising his eyebrow, “What are you doing, little bug?”Leaning forward and pressing my breasts together with my arms, I stated with a grin as his eye went wide for a second, “Fuck me on your desk, Dr Sawyer!”“I will gladly fulfill that request, my sweet little pervert.” He stood up, coming over to me. His hands grabbed at my waist, his screen looking down at me, “Now be a good girl an-”There was a tenseness that went through his body as an alarm sounded outside of the room, causing him to growl and step away, “... What now!?”“Excuse me, my pet, I’ll be back when I can. Don’t wander off, I want to get to your lovely request.” His voice was soft as he spoke to me. He put a hand to my cheek, tilting his head at me, “I will be back as soon as I am able to.”I watched as he exited the office with an annoyed growl, leaving me alone. Jumping off the desk, I decided to explore again as I didn’t want to be sitting there bored. The room wasn’t far from others that were open, so I went into those. I was surprised when I came across a cage in one of the rooms further down the hall to his office, a cage that was occupied.“Huh..? What is that?” Curiosity peaked, I cautiously stepped toward the cage; when the small creature in the cage turned to look at me suddenly, I startled and stepped back, “Ah!”“S-s-sorry, dear… I… I expected you to be… well, you’ve probably met him by now if you’re in this section…” The creature spoke, reminding me of a purple deranged looking Furby; his black void eyes looked to be stuck on me. He asked with worry in his voice, “...A-are you working with him?”“Uh… no, not really…” I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling awkward. I didn’t really know what I was to the Doctor, other than a fucktoy in a way. There were moments it felt like more, but maybe I was being delusional. “I think it’s more I’ve gotten under his skin… Got his soft side to like me, I guess?”The creature raised an eyebrow, “I’m not sure that’s any better than being an enemy…”“Thanks…” I muttered, and then tilted my head, eyes squinting as I tried to zone in on his voice, feeling it sounded familiar, “W-who are you?”“... He calls me Yellow Spine…” It wasn’t until he told me his name that I saw the yellow streak going down the creature’s back, “But in life, I was Dr White…”“Dr White?” My eyes widened, my eyebrows raised as he told me his name, “I recognise that name… I heard you on a couple of the VHS tapes…”He sighed, “I’m not surprised… I… I guess I had a hand in The Doctor’s schemes at times…”“You mean like with… with his wife?”“Oh, you saw that?” He seemed ashamed of that fact, lowering his gaze, “... He had me turn her into a… a toy… and then did the same to me…”“He… did that to you? How, when he’s… you know?”“As you probably guess, he’s made a body that can allow him to do just that… He’s a talented man.. Intelligent, so I’m not surprised.”I rubbed my arm, not sure I wanted to know, “W-what happened to his wife? Where is she?”“She’s still here… I believe he kept her close.” He answered, “She’s probably in a similar situation to myself, being in a cage. I don’t know.”“So, say he... He does get attached to someone, should I be worried?” I asked, anxious, as I sat beside the cage feeling as if I needed to sit down, “You said before that you weren’t sure if gaining his softer side was any better than being his enemy… It just got me thinking.”He looked up at me, giving a small smile. He put a comforting hand through the bars and onto my knee, “I… I think you’re fine as long as you don’t stab him in the back… He takes that personally. He’s also possessive of… those he attaches too as well.”“Thanks…” I returned the small smile. The feeling of being watched came back as I glanced around to spot the camera positioned to watch the cage, “Does that camera work?”“...Camera?” He glanced in the direction I was looking, confused, “I didn’t even know that was there…”“Oh… you said he was possessive, right? H-h-how possessive are we talking?” I looked back at him, worry was upon my face.“Um, I’m not sure… I’ve only heard of him being like that…” Dr White grew more worried, “Maybe you should return to where he had left you?”“...Good idea…” I stood up, only turning to him for a moment, “Thank you… for telling me about Mrs Sawyer…”“I hope you can find her, free her and give her some peace…” He nodded, giving a small wave as I left the room.I returned the wave, as I exited the room.That was something for sure. Was it a good idea to leave him now? Should I leave whilst I still have a chance? But, I felt so drawn to the Doctor… I wanted to stay.I continued exploring the area, only for my hand to be grabbed from behind. I turned to face who it was: one of the Nightmare Critters, it was Simon Smoke. The scent of wood smoke filled my nostrils, as the excited dragon tugged on my arm, trying to pull me back in the direction of Dr White’s room. He stopped in front of the door, the little critter jumping to open the door, but missing by an inch.“Um, okay?” I opened the door for him, watching as he proudly pointed into the room, “If you’re trying to show me Dr White, I -”I stopped and my eyes went wide at what I was seeing in front of me. The cage was covered in blood, the contained Dr White was ripped to shreds and it seemed that Simon was the one behind it as he continued to show me the corpse. I shuddered as the dragon happily showed off what looked like the ex-doctor’s intestines.“Oh, little pet, you forget who you belong to…” The Doctor’s voice came over the loudspeaker, “You’re MINE, don’t you forget that.”“He… He told you to do… that to Dr White?” I looked at the little dragon, who nodded with pride. My face had paled, having the strong scent of fresh blood hit my nose. I had to step out of the room, the little critter staying in the room as I did.Dr White was right, he was possessive. I felt that I had to tread carefully with him more so.No longer feeling like exploring the area, I headed back to Harley’s office. I tried to ignore the fact that Harley had flipped out over a simple little touch. The man was only trying to comfort me, I guess, but I suppose to someone that was possessive that was a touch too far. I entered, opening the door to find him sitting in his chair again.He had his hands overlapped, leaning his chin onto them, “The Doctor will see you now.”“Aw, Harley, if you wanted to play doctors, all you had to do was ask.”
“Of course you would think that way, my pretty little pervert.” He stood up, wrapping his arms around my waist, and pulled me close to him, “MINE.”“You’ve made that very clear, Dr Sawyer.” I forced a grin, but it quickly turned into a smirk, “Why don’t you show me that I’m yours, by fulfilling my earlier request, hmm?”“Oh, little bug, I will gladly do that…” He chuckled, backing me up to his desk; he looked down at me, putting a hand on my chest to keep me in place.I gasped when he roughly grabbed my boobs, “Fuck…”“Are you going to be a good girl, and make those lovely noises for me again?” His voice was low, husky sounding. He chuckled as he saw me squirm under his hand, “Now, come on, my little pervert… I know you want to.”“H-Harley…” Moans escaped my throat when he pressed a hand to my clit, rubbing through my clothes, “Fuck me… now…”“Good girl…” He breathed heavily, yanking off the bottom half of my clothes, and then tugged my lower end to the edge of the desk, “Your special gift is ready to go again, little bug… Let’s give it a test run, shall we?”“Oh, fuck yes!” A gasp escaped my mouth, when he inched his fingers inside me; after a short while, my hands gripped the edge of the desk as he pushed me closer to my edge.“So close, come on… Cum for me, pet, and I’ll give you your gift.” He growled lowly, chuckling when my moans droned longer, “Nearly there… Come on…”My head tipped right back and leaned against the desk, “Ha-Harley!”“Good girl,” He shifted his cloak out of the way, showing his special gift again - showing he had improved it -. He pulled me off the desk, turning me so my ass pressed against him and my front leaned against the desk. His hand grabbed my hair, pulling my head back, as he inched inside me. “Little bug, you feel so good.”“Oh, fuck!” I panted, “Harder!”“As you wish.” He roughly grabbed my hips, fingers barely digging in, as he rammed his hips into mine hard.“Sh-shit!” I gasped when he went harder; the desk shook as I grabbed the edges from Harley’s thrusting. I moaned when he tugged on my hair, “Oh, fuck… Harley, keep going like that and you’ll break your desk…”“If…If it can handle Yarnaby sitting on it, pet, it can definitely handle us.” He chuckled, hands groping my ass. His fingers dug in slightly as he squeezed affectionately. He moaned, “Hmm,”“W-what was that for?” I giggled, attempting to look over my shoulder at him.“Just knowing my earlier observations were correct.” His hips pressed harshly against me, as he neared his screen to my face, “Your ass FEELS as delectable as it looks.”“Oh?!” I squeaked as he squeezed again with force.He laughed, “Oh little pet, you sound like something that Yarnaby would chew on. Do that again.”“You’re an asshole, you know, Dr Sawyer?” I panted, groaning when he slammed harder into my hips.“Is that so, my dear?” He hummed, grabbing my hips to get a better grip, “You seem to forget which one of us is in the position for punishment… Would you like me to remind you?”A gasp left my mouth as he tugged on my hair, “Oh, fuck yes…”Still with a fistful of hair in his hand, he chuckled, “Such a dirty little pervert you are…”“For you… Yeah…” I smirked, only to moan loudly as he tugged again.“That’s right. Mine.” His pace slowed for a moment, “Ooo, little bug, you’re getting close… Why don’t you cum for me, like the good little pervert you are?”“Harley…” I whined, feeling close.“Come on…” He taunted, putting a hand around my neck and leaning my back against him, making his gift go deeper, “Nearly there.”“Oh, fuck, that feels soo good…” My moans grew louder as he continued to thrust deeper, “H-H-Harley…”“Come on, little bug. I know you’re nearly there. Just a bit further. Cum for me, pet.” His hand moved from my neck to under my shirt, rubbing his fingers over my nipple. His other hand grabbed hold of my hip to keep me in place. His words encouraged me to the edge, earning an exhausted, “Good girl.” from him.Once being released by him, I slumped against the desk. I was startled when he picked me up bridal style, sitting with me in his lap back in his chair. The smile that grew on my face as he wrapped me in his cloak with him was unmistakable, especially when he brushed a hand through my messy hair.“I say it again, little one, you’re not as angelic as some think you are.” He tiredly chuckled, seeming to smile.“Hmm…” I hummed, resting my head against his chest and listened to the drones of the parts inside his chest cavity - the closest it was to a physical heart-.He must have noticed I kept closing and opening my eyes, as he softly stated, “Rest… You’re safe here… You have a chance to take that.”“...Okay…” I let my eyes close, taking the moment to rest. Just for a moment…

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It was hours later when I finally awoke, still in Harley’s office and in his chair, albeit, I was alone. Rubbing my eyes of sleep, I shifted in the seat to spot a note on his desk. I scooted the chair closer to pick it up.In that typical doctor’s handwriting that was hard to decipher in places, it read: ‘Little pet, I had to tend to some business whilst you were asleep. In case you wake before I am back, I suggest you stay in my office until I get back. For your safety, of course. I dread to think you come across anything else in this part of the factory. See you when I return. Dr Sawyer. P.S. I know you’re less likely to stay, but be a good girl and do so.’My mouth formed a smirk at the ‘p.s’ he had written, causing me to pocket the note. I intended to stay in the office anyway, still feeling the effects of the activities Harley and I had previously gotten up to. Instead, I wobbly got up to explore his office, seeing as he wasn’t there to tell me what not to look at. My curiosity got the better of me and I went straight to the files he had earlier told me not to look at, grabbing them and placing them on the desk as I got ready to read them. As I was about to sit down, a shiny thing caught my eyes and drew me closer to it.“A ring?” I picked up what looked like a gold wedding band, one that had a couple of tiny diamonds embedded on the outside and Harley’s initials on the inside. I jumped as when the chain it was attached to caught on something, it caused the bookcase to slide right. I put the ring back where I had found it, being more interested in the passageway that had opened up. “I mean, I’m not technically leaving the office if I go that way…”I entered that secret passage, excited to see what was down it. As I went further into it, there was a long-ish corridor and a couple of rooms down it. The corridor itself was pristine, like it was well looked after, and the door at the end was black with no windows. That one drew me in the most, so I headed toward that first.When I passed the other doors, I attempted to open them to see if they were locked or not. Most of them were. The ones that were open didn’t have much in them, just had filing cabinets more than anything. Extra storage, I gathered. I had entered what was the 5th room down that corridor, when I heard the loudspeaker squeak to life, causing me to look up at the monitor that was above the black door.“What are you doing, little pet? You’re not supposed to be there…”A smirk grew on my face, as I stepped directly in front of the camera; wanting to put him off what he was going to tell me, I lifted my shirt to show my breasts, “I go where I want, asshole!”A little bit of gibberish came out of him, before he shut off the monitor in front of me causing me to giggle and enter the room, after lowering my shirt.The door creaked open as I cautiously entered, poking my head inside incase of any unknown threats. Not immediately seeing anything, I slowly entered the room fully. The room was mostly in a dim light, but there was what looked like a giant snow globe in the middle of the room. I approached it, almost tip-toeing as I neared it, spotting the cameras in all the corners of the room as I got closer.It was clear The Doctor wanted to keep an eye on this room and didn’t like intruders as there were a couple of critters prowling around on the other side. They skittered off when I aimed my flare gun at them.“Good, get lost!” I nodded in their direction.“H-h-hello?” A feminine British voice spoke, sounding as if it hadn’t been used in years.The sound of porcelain on tile was heard as whoever spoke came closer. A doll that reminded me of the ballerinas in jewellery boxes neared the glass I stood next to. She looked up in awe, seeming as if she was going to burst into tears.“A human?!” She was surprised, hurriedly speaking; she pottered about the snow globe, allowing me to see that she had her own little house of sorts inside it, including a little bedroom. “It’s been so long! H-h-how did you get here? Does HE know you’re here? Quick, you need to get somewhere before he does! He has cameras everywhere here!”“It’s fine!” I held my hands up, signalling for her to calm down, “I… He knows I’m here… He saw me enter…”“Wait… You’re his little pet?” She raised a perfectly painted brown eyebrow at me.“... I guess so?” I shrugged, awkwardly chuckling, “I mean, he does call me that… but… I’m not too obedient, so I guess no? Why do you think I’m here and not in his office?”She was confused, tilting her head and furrowing her brows, “He… he let you in his office?”“Yeah?” I frowned, matching her by tilting my own head, “Why? Does he not let many people in there?”“Only people he has to…” She glanced away, “I… I don’t even remember going through it in order to be put in… in here.”“Oh…” A small sense of pride filled me as I was one of the few that got to experience Dr Sawyer’s office.A loudspeaker squeaked, before Harley spoke, “Oh, little bug, you are starting to become a huge pest. Yarnaby is coming to fetch you, do stay put until he’s there.”The sound of a lock clicking caught my attention, causing me to head back to the door and try it. It was definitely locked, causing me to pout up at one of the cameras.“Little doll, do keep to yourself. My pet doesn’t need to know the history of why you’re there.” Harley chuckled, “That’s need to know.”“Fuck you, Harley!” She screeched, raising a middle finger.He tutted, “Such language. Don’t be such a bad influence on the little bug, she’s already hard to manage at times.”I echoed her, frowning up at the camera near me, “Fuck you, Sawyer!”“See, now look at what you have done.” He spoke, before the loudspeaker squeaked and then silence, “Stay put, pet.”Still frowning, I trudged over to the snow globe and sat beside it. I pulled my knees to my chest, awkwardly wondering what to do now I was locked in here. I bit my lip before asking, “... Who are you, by the way?”“... I’m apparently his ‘little doll’... My name is actually Lacey Sawyer…” She sighed, sitting beside the glass in a similar position.My legs lowered out of surprise, “Wait, as in Mrs Sawyer?”“You know me?” She looked at me.“... Sorta of, I know OF you… From some of those VHS tapes… and Dr White… he told me that you were here. That … um, Harley had him do… that to you...”“Dr White?” She scoffed at that name, “What’s that pig up to nowadays? Being my ex-husband’s errand boy?”“He was made into a toy and locked in a cage…”“Ha, serves him right!” She sneered, years of bottled up anger seething inside her, “Bastard did THIS to me… Took me away from my child… Now he knows how it feels.”“... Harley ordered one of those Nightmare Critters to kill him… It tore him apart, all because Dr White tried to comfort me…” I stared off into the distance, remembering how the dragon critter acted so proudly as he showed off that corpse.“He did…?” She seemed stunned over that fact, suddenly having a look of guilt cross over her porcelain features. Her eyes darted away, until she realised what I had said, “I… Wait, why would he do that?”“Apparently he’s possessive, like VERY?”“Wait…. No, you’ve not, have you?” She stood up, looking up at me.My guilty face must have told her all she needed to know. I felt so bad… She was learning that her husband… ex-husband was sleeping with this stranger she had just met.“I’m sorry!” I looked back at her, “I know it doesn’t mean much, but… I… I don’t know how it started… but then he made this ‘special gift’ for me… and next thing is… yeah…”She had a slight look of hurt in her eyes, but her face was soft, “Sweetheart, I’ve not had feelings for The Doctor… He is NOT my husband…” Her face saddened, “He hasn’t been for years…”“10 years, if you want to be specific…” I muttered.She was a little surprised at that fact, but continued nonetheless, “No… No, I think it was a lot longer than that… That he was like this… Whilst he did have moments of regret when it came to this… project… It was only fleeting moments… The children he experimented on… They were treated so cruelly, especially Quinn… Yarnaby…”“I saw a couple of the reports on him… The ones where Dr Sawyer isolated him, only having contact with him… It was… heartless the way he had worded it… That poor… kid…”“Yeah, even so… Quinn still looked up to Harley, even as Yarnaby…” Lacey sat beside the glass, “That’s why he obeys him so easily… That’s why he was typically the one to guard me in here.”When a flap opened and shut, we glanced over to see the big lion-dog prowling closer.“Yarnaby! Speak of the devil.” She gave a small smile, “Don’t you be taking my new friend away, bad boy.”Yarnaby looked sad for a moment, before perking up as he sat beside me. He made himself comfortable, letting me snuggle in with him.“Heh, good boy.” Lacey grinned, before whispering to me, “He only obeys me MOST of the time. Just some things he won’t do.”“He IS a good boy.” I grinned, cuddling into the soft, woolly rainbow yarn.“Over the years, he’s grown an attachment to me… Something that Harley doesn’t always like to see… but, he still allows the big kitty to come spend time with me…” She smiled, “It’s nice.”“Do the nightmare critters guard you too?” I asked, “I ask because I saw a couple of them before that I managed to scare off.”“They do… Not as much as Yarnaby, and the only one I’ve been able to get through to is Poe - the little raven one. The rest are loyal to Harley.” Lacey stated, going silent for a couple of seconds, before distantly adding, “You know, despite growing to hate him over the years for what he’s done… to the kids… to me… Taking away the experience of watching my child grow up… I still feel like there’s a bit of love inside me for that man… I… I have to admit, it hurt hearing the way he spoke of you… He’s come in telling me of this ex-employee that had outlived the impossible… That even that… that Prototype is worried about you… He sounded so… impressed, like he had discovered the best thing in the world… Then, you tell me you’ve… well, yeah… It did hurt hearing that… But, again, The Doctor - the thing he is now -, that’s not my husband…” She let out a dry laugh, “It’s funny, the way he can pull people in… He doesn’t realise how charming he is at times. The times he does… he uses that to his advantage.”“Why… Why are you telling me this?” I rubbed my arm, feeling the guilt in the pit of my stomach growing.“... I don’t have anyone else TO tell… Plus, I feel the need to warn you… to let you know,” Lacey looked me dead in the eyes, her tone of voice serious, “His musings and flirtings are all a way to strive his ego. It is just another way he uses to get control of others. He did it to me, he did it to poor Yarnaby. He’ll do it to you too…I know it’s not something you want to hear, heck, I don’t even know if you’ll listen to me… but, I don’t want another person to end up like me. Dr White was correct on one thing: Harley is possessive. Just look at what he did to me, in order to keep me…”“I’m sorry…” I muttered. I know it’s delusional, but I felt like I was the one that could change him, “Maybe… Maybe it’s possible that he’s changed? With it happening to him, not being able to experiment on anyone… Maybe he’s had a change of heart?”“Dear, that’s not likely…” She had a look of worry upon her face. One like a parent when they find out you’re dating the local rebel, “... You said it’s been 10 years, right? It’s not likely… Just look at the way he talks to Yarnaby for a start…”Yarnaby’s interest was piqued, raising his head when his name was mentioned, only to put it back down when he wasn’t given an order.“I mean, sure there’s times he demands things from him, and doesn’t call him the good boy he is… But, there doesn’t seem to be a time that I can recall him disrespecting Yarnaby… not whilst I’ve been around him…” I told her.She had a pleading tone to her voice, attempting to get through to my stubborn mind, “Darling, do you not think he would have freed me, if he had? Do you think he would have had Dr White killed if he had?”I glanced away from her gaze, shrugging and pulling my knees back into my chest, “I… I don’t know…”“Exactly…” She watched as I hugged my knees, “I’m not saying this to hurt you… Okay, maybe he has his moments, but don’t all people like him?”My head sank to my knees, looking away from her. I kept wanting to believe it was possible to change him. The conversation between us had gone a lot better than I had expected, but this was not something I wanted to discuss with her. I highly expected her to scream and shout at me, not try to give motherly advice. It made me feel more guilty that she wasn’t angry at me.Wanting to change the topic, I determinedly asked, “Do you still want to get out of here?”She seemed stumped at the change of topic, fluttering her eyelids to process it. She nodded, “Yes, more than anything. I wish to at least see the outside once more… As much as I would love to see my child, I do not wish for her to see me like this…”“Great. We can help each other here. I know there is a safe haven where you can stay until Poppy’s plan is complete.” I stood up, alerting Yarnaby to my movement. I smiled when he stayed put. Looking around, I spotted a large brick and picked it up, “Stand back!”Once she had stepped back out of danger, throwing the brick caused the glass to shatter around her. The shards missed her as she had hidden under the bed, and it had formed a circle around the base. She stepped out, once I had given the all clear.“Thank you…” Lacey gratefully looked up at me; that was the first time I was able to see she was roughly the same size as Poppy, if not smaller. Her tiny feet caused a ‘tink’ noise to echo in the almost empty room. “I would not know how to repay you.”“Just… consider it as a promise kept that I set you free.” I know I didn’t promise anything, but I felt it was an unspoken one. One that I felt needed to be kept.“Thank you,” She nodded; she stood beside Yarnaby pointing at the grate, “Yarnaby, open grate.”The huge lion toy stretched and yawned, before padding over to the grate in which he entered the room. He opened it, holding it open with his giant mouth, and allowed us to enter.“Good boy!” She patted his leg, as she passed him.I copied her, stroking his head, “Good boy!”He followed behind, as we navigated the vent.We ended up coming out into a storage room, presumably one of the locked ones that were down that corridor. It had rows of cabinets and shelves, the door was barely seeable. What was seeable, however, were the smaller Harley bots patrolling the rows.“Stay here.” Lacey told me, before sneaking off. Her small size enabled her to sneak up on the robots, climb them to the point she was able to reach their wires and yanked them out. She proudly slid down each one she shut off, before coming back to me and Yarnaby. “Now we can pass.”“Wow, I didn’t think you were a bit of a hacker!” I beamed excitedly.“Heh, that’s nothing. I can do a LOT more than that.” She grinned smugly, hopping onto Yarnaby’s back.We headed through the room, finding a way out into the pristine corridor that I had first come down earlier. We treaded carefully in case there was still anyone on guard nearby, getting to Harley’s office. We were near at least a bit of safety.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As we got to the entryway, I was the first to enter once making sure that Lacey and Yarnaby were back. I slowly entered, cautiously looking around to take in my surroundings. Feeling it was clear, I went into the room and was about to signal to Yarnaby to enter, when something grabbed my arms.“Do you not listen!” Harley’s voice shouted from behind me, dragging me back into the room and throwing me onto the desk; he stood over me, “Pet, do you not realise by now: you can’t hide from me. I told you that when you first got on that train.”It appeared, for a moment, that he forgot about Yarnaby and Lacey being with me as he continued to stand over me. At least it did, until he clicked his fingers in their direction. That caused a couple of the smaller Harley bodies to charge in their direction and drag them in too.Yarnaby growled as they manhandled him, not particularly liking that. He cowered when Harley stood looking down at him, since the lion dog was pinned down.“I’ll deal with YOU later. Go. Now.” He told Yarnaby, who was quick to do as he was told, exiting the room.“Don’t you DARE hurt him!” I tried to break free of his grasp seeing as he had dragged me over to them, thumping my fists against his chest.He chuckled, holding me up into his line of sight, “Pathetic little bug, who said anything about hurting him?”“It was the implication, asshole.” I sneered at him, basically giving him evils. I felt annoyed when he simply laughed at my looks.“You are quite adorable. Did no one tell you that assumptions make you an ass?” He growled, grabbing my ass, “and you have a very lovely one.”Being held in place by a smaller Harley body, Lacey cleared her throat, looking none too pleased at the conversation in front of her, “As ‘cute’ a couple as you are, I have some notes I’d like to share…”“My little doll, did you think I had forgotten about you?” Dragging me with him, Harley approached her. He tilted his head, “Notes on what, dear?”“Do I have to spell it out for you, Doctor?” She grumbled, saying ‘doctor’ in a taunting fashion. She gave a short laugh, “And you’re supposed to be smart.”He growled, his eye seeming to twitch at her words, “... There are a number of things YOU would have notes on, wouldn’t you, Lacey? You always did.”“Oh, you’re back to calling me by my name? What, did the feeling of guilt wash away after this many years? Or is having… someone else the reason?”I awkwardly stood between the two, feeling like a third wheel all of a sudden. I bit my lower lip at the situation.He rolled his eye, “Why do you need to know?”“I don’t. What I DO need to know is why you decided putting me in a replica of my fucking WEDDING dress was a good idea?” She frowned, folding her arms, “Of all the things you’ve done, Harley, THAT was shitty.”“So turning you into a doll wasn’t shitty?” He laughed in disbelief, “Experimenting on children?”“Oh, they’re BEYOND shitty. I’m just saying the ones you’ve done to me, that don’t exceed those.” She stared him down, “YOU are a shitty person, but you didn’t need to make that fact worse by putting me in my fucking wedding dress. Not called for…”“I thought you liked that dress. You certainly did on our wedding day… Not so much that night, but that’s for another day.” He sounded smug, “I was simply trying to show how much I still loved you…”“Loved me?” She scoffed, “You certainly have a strange way of showing love, Sawyer.”“I tire of this conversation, Lacey.” He stated, turning away from her.“Of course you do, that’s why we never resolved anything! Why the relationship NEVER worked out!” She shouted, “YOU always avoided conflict, always avoided when a problem arose, especially if YOU were that problem.”He turned back to her suddenly, too close for comfort; the eye on his screen was red with anger, “YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO BRING ANY OF THAT UP?! You always went crying to your parents whenever we had an argument. ‘Harley did this.’ ‘Harley said that’. I was ALWAYS the one to blame. You, of course, were always perfect.”“Harley, please!” I begged him, his hand having tightened so much around my wrist that it was starting to hurt. I tried to pry it away, but he was too strong.“... I apologise, pet…” He loosened his grip, clearing his throat as he continued addressing Lacey. His eye had changed back to a half lidded one, looking smug, “Maybe it would be in our best interest if our child were to be brought here? After all, they are technically an orphan, Play Care would have the rights to them.”“NO! Please, Harley, don’t do that!” Lacey begged him, fear within her hazel eyes.“Why not, hmm? It would stop you from trying to escape, wouldn't it? Since this isn’t the first time you’ve tried it.”“Please, anything but THAT. I’ll stay! I’ll stay if you leave her unharmed! Leave her with my parents. She doesn’t deserve this life. She doesn’t deserve to go through the shit that happens here! Leave her be! Please!” She begged, practically near to tears.He slowly nodded, “Since you asked SO nicely, I’ll accept those terms, DEAR.”“Thank you…” She quietly told him, lowering her gaze. She wiped at her face when a stray tear rolled down her cheek, betraying her brave facade.“As for YOU…” He turned back to me, picking me up to have my face come close to his screen. His voice implied something both sinister and enjoyable. He lowered me onto the desk, having strode over to it as he spoke, “I have something special in mind, stay here and I’ll deal with you in a moment.”He left me sitting on the desk unattended, as he approached Lacey again. He took her in his hands, telling his robots to leave them, “Are you going to be a good little doll and return to your room?”“...Yes…” She replied sorrowfully, refusing to look him in the eye.“Good. I-” He stopped when he felt a twinge in his neck, eyebrow furrowing; he released his grip on Lacey, causing her to fall to the floor and him to moan, when I had tugged on his wires again.Luckily, I had planned ahead for once, and placed a nearby cushion on the floor beneath her and that caught her. I opened the office door for her, “Quick, Lacey, get to The Safe Haven. Tell Doey that I sent you. Don’t look back!”She did as she was told, heading out the door and out of view, but not before giving a grateful, “Thank you.”I yelped as Harley had harshly grabbed my wrist; my head turned away from him when his leering red eye glared at me. I whimpered, when his grip got unbearable.“Oh, I am sorry, PET. Am I hurting you?” He spoke condescendingly, his grip not wavering, “What a shame. Maybe you’ll learn your lesson.”“...Harley, please…” I tried to pry his hand away, not able to one bit. Tears stung my eyes from the pain I was feeling. Absolutely sure that some bruising was going to be there later.“Please?! PLEASE?!” He shouted, throwing me to the desk, before laughing; my back hit the edge, causing me to yelp out, “You know, I like it when you beg. Be a good girl and beg me NOT to KILL you.”Fear filled my eyes as I looked up at him from the floor, sure that he was going to stick to that if I didn’t do as he asked, “Please, Harley -”“‘Please daddy’ would be more appropriate, do you not think, my little pervert?” He stood over me; his hand was placed on my chin, holding my head in place, “Say: please daddy.”“Please… Daddy, don’t kill me…” I choked out, finding his hand reached for my throat, “D-Don’t… Please…”“Good girl.” He picked me up, more gently this time and with his hands on my hips. He turned me to face the desk, grabbing my hair to lift my head to be level with his screen, “I’m going to punish you… I hope you know that, darling. Daddy can’t let his little pervert go unpunished, especially after THAT.”He yanked my pants down, knickers following suit, and seemed to admire my ass for a moment, before he stepped away for a second. When he returned, wires were used to whip across my bare bum, some rather suggestive noises coming out of my mouth. A loud screech of pain erupted from my throat when he continued to whip those wires across my backside, creating large red gashes there when the force got stronger.When satisfied, he leaned over me to get close to my ears, lowering the wires still in his hand, “Have you learnt your lesson, PET?”Slowly, I nodded and clenched my eyes in pain, “Yes…”“Good girl…” He got off me, turning me to face him; he had gotten rid of the wires, but kept them close by. He brought me in for a hug, wrapping his cloak around me, “You understand I HAD to do that, don’t you?”Reluctantly, I nodded. I kept quiet, feeling quite numb all of a sudden.“Good.” He stood with his arms around me, keeping me embraced for a moment.My thoughts were running wild, between what just happened, Lacey, his experiments, everything… I felt my anger bubble over. Within seconds, my clenched fist swung for his screen.He stumbled backward, screen glitching out and cracked in a corner. He had released me from his grasp, giving me an opening to get away.I ran for it, out of the office, and getting back to where Yarnaby was originally tasked with bringing me back to Harley’s restricted area, but not before hearing him shout for me to come back. Remembering the plan to get the Omni-hand, I returned to No Man’s Land. I noticed my earlier work on the machine stations had been undone, so went back to putting them back on with the hand scanners. I managed to get to one, when the loudspeaker squeaked to life.“She’s such a disobedient little pet. Maybe a scare will set her straight!” Harley’s pained voice spoke, “Yarnaby, be a good boy and get her. Dead or alive.”The sound of the grate opening and closing, whilst I was still using the scanner to switch on the machine station, put me on edge. I looked back at the scanner, seeing it was only half way. Bouncing on the spot, I prayed that it would hurry up and scan. When it had finished, I squeezed through the gap across from me, barely escaping Yarnaby’s open jaws. I ran up to the second scanner, glancing around in case the lion-dog made an appearance. I was glad when it finished, because he just about appeared at the top of the steps.“Shit…” I muttered, running for my life back through the earlier gap. I managed to find the final machine station, scanning it and having a very close encounter with Yarnaby, thankful that the grab pack had stretchy arms.With the machine stations scanned, I followed the route around until I found a red and black cable. Following the cable, I was able to find a machine station that had a red button, however when I pressed it, the thing didn’t work. I continued following the cable around, finding numerous red buttons linked to it. I pressed them along the way, causing the red cable to turn blue. Pressing one caused a ramp to fall down and lead me to an area that looked completely wasted.Yarnaby was heard sniffing not far behind, causing me to panic slightly. He scratched in places, when he found something that interested him.Continuing on, I was able to find a lever, so I pocketed that for later use. Close to that, I was able to find a document, putting that in my pocket as well. Feeling Yarnaby was hot on my heels, I squeezed through gaps to get away. I headed back toward the ramp, remembering there was a steel door I had passed. I put the lever in the slot beside it and found it fit.Flipping it, the door opened into a room that had more wires.I rubbed my butt, thoughts going back to Harley’s punishment. Continuing throughout the area, I was able to find a blue keycard on one of the chairs in there. Quickly, I pocketed it, knowing for a fact that I was bound to need that. I pulled the red switch beside that chair, connected to a machine station.This caused the connecting red cable to turn blue.Following the cable a short distance, I found a red button and pressed it causing more red cable to turn blue. This showed another machine station with a keycard scanner, prompting me to use the blue keycard. Using the keycard turned the remaining red cable to blue.An alarm sounding startled me, but I pursued the blue cable until it stopped at an electric box and another red button. I pressed it, and found another one not far from me. I pressed that one too, causing more red wire to go blue. Pressing a third red button caused a shutter to open and lead me into a control room.In the middle of the control room, there was a control system with a lever. Pulling it made a little dinging noise that I kinda liked, but alerted Yarnaby to my location as his footsteps were heard padding around nearby.I made a run for the blue and red scanners close by, fearing that the lion-dog was too close for comfort. Scanning those caused the doors that I had just come through to close and the one in front to open.Unfortunately, the previous doors opened again and a hungry looking Yarnaby was behind them.With that thought in mind and Harley’s earlier demands of him, I ran for my life. Twists and turns were around me, but I refused to look back as I was sure he was snapping at my heels. Coming to a point where the path stopped and the only way across was to grab the scolding chain above, I immediately reached for it with my grab pack and swung across.Unfortunately for him, Yarnaby leapt across - not seeing the boiling hot chain above - and his fur got caught on the chain. His yarn was quick to set a light from the hot temperature and the polyester material it was made of. His yelps of pain filled me with guilt, especially as the chain dropped with him. He was close to getting free, just about grabbing the edge, but he fell with a heartbreaking cry down the large gap.“Yarnaby!” I yelled, stepping toward the edge as I was finally able to move, but he was gone. Stopping for a moment to pay respects to the - mostly - lovable lion-dog, I sadly continued on.Turning around, there was a yellow door behind me with a blue hand scanner. I scanned it, trudging into the room. I spotted the lift that led out of No Man’s Land. Once I was in, the door closed and took me down. Immediately stepping out of it, I was greeted by a tv in front of me. I cautioned forward, quickly finding the VHS and putting it into the VCR connected to the burgundy TV.A toy groaning in pain sounded, as a horrifying image of Hoppy Hopscotch appeared on the screen.“I need some help here!” Hoppy yelled.A third voice I didn’t recognise had urgency as he told them, “Hey, watch the door! Watch the door!”“Right here. On the mattress.” The medic instructed.Hoppy tried to comfort the first toy, “There you go, bud. You’re okay.”“Okay?! Look at me, I’m a mess!” The pained toy frantically shouted.Doey asked, confused and alarmed, “Hoppy, what’s going on?”“We were trying to bring supplies back up to the elevator, but we got jumped.” Hoppy tried to explain as the first toy groaned in pain beside her, “Had to turn all the way back around.”The injured toy panicked, “They took everything we had! Right after one of ‘em bit my leg!”“Hmm…” Doey stated, “How is he, doc?”“...Mmmmm, not too bad… He’ll live.” The medic didn’t exactly sound too sure of that.Hoppy stated as a matter of factly, “See!”“Keep bite clean. Could get infected otherwise.” The medic continued, sounding as if he rolled away.“So, um… What do we do now?” Hoppy asked, like her friend hadn’t just been attacked.“For starters, you two stay here tonight. Let things settle down outside. I’ll find more food for you to bring up to Playcare.” Doey stated, “When you’re ready.”“Thanks, Doey.” Hoppy responded, “Sorry we lost the supplies. I-it won’t happen again.”“The important thing is you’re both okay… aside from that bite, that is.” Doey stated before turning to the medic, “Hey, doc, let me grab some wound cream for our pal here.”With that said, the tape finished.I pushed onward, heading through a steel door and out into a dark corridor. Following it around, I managed to see a blue light at the end, so I went that way. At the end of it, I was surprised to find Doey by a blue pipe.“Doey?” I exclaimed happily, happy to see a friend.“Oh, it’s you! Is the Doctor…?” Doey happily turned to face me, putting a hand to lip in thought, “No, don’t suppose he is then…”I tried to change the topic, “What are you up to down here?”“I’ve been here gathering parts for the generator.” He chuckled, “Lots of-”He was cut off when liquid nitrogen sprayed him out of the pipe beside him; his face contorted in pain, causing him to grunt in pain as he was frozen.“Doey!” I stepped forward, grabbing the handle above me to turn the liquid nitrogen away from him. I immediately ran up to him when the freezing gas was directed elsewhere, trying to see if he was okay.He unfroze, shivering in pain and grabbing his chest, “Hurts! Hurts! Hurts! Hurts! Hurts!”“Doey, what should I do!?” I grabbed at his arm, as he panted in pain, “Are you okay?”“Just go… Quick…” He muttered, directing me through the doors that had opened into a construction zone. Doey shouted, sounding annoyed, “He’s made it impossible for me to get around here! Traps like this are everywhere. It’s the cold that hurts…” His tone of voice changed from an angry teen to a small child, “The big mean Doctor knows that…” He tried to calm himself, taking deep breaths as he talked, “It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s all okay…”I found a chain hanging over a gap, feeling this area looked familiar, and swung across. It led me to the double doors where Yarnaby had chased me from that led me to the machine stations and… earlier events. I followed through the cave tunnel, stopping when I saw some crates.“Ah, and here you are… Just as I expected.” The Doctor sounded calm as he talked over the loudspeaker, “It appears you are every bit what the Prototype fears.”I moved the crates aside as he spoke, creating a set of steps to get up to the ledge.“And to think Playtime had someone of such rare quality, and never noticed. Funny. I can’t say I remember seeing your face before. But I’m curious, why come back? It can’t be that a vague letter was your only reason.”I listened as he calmly spoke, closing the pipe that had the liquid nitrogen coming out of it so I was able to cross the gap with the grab pack handle above me.“Was there someone you loved here? Someone you’d lost? Was it the pain of not knowing for sure that brought you here?”I continued on, until I came to a massive spotlight and saw a gap in the railing. It caused me to look down and see the pipe containing the gas as well as the lever that switched the direction of the gas. I immediately pulled that, after lowering myself down to next to it. That gave me access further into the area, finding a medic tent nearby and a keycard inside that.I was careful to not go near the gas that came out of the pipe that was after the tent, and went to the key card scanner, putting the recently discovered one through that.It opened a steel shutter door, giving me a pathway up a short ramp. I followed the pathway around, until a shutter door opened into a large operating room. Glancing around, I spotted the blue hand scanner that opened one of the rooms and approached it.Scanning it, Dr Sawyer made his voice heard, “The experiments killed everyone, including whoever you came back for.” He set off the liquid nitrogen that came out of the blue pipe my blue hand was beside (luckily I was a fair distance from it).I panicked, backing away as I didn’t want to get frozen, and looked around. The large saw made me think that would be useful.“You know that by now, yes?” He continued speaking, as I approached the giant saw blade, I noticed the slightly open morgue door and found the battery to the saw inside.I grabbed that as quick as I was able to, starting to feel the cold coming down the grab pack. My breath came out in a fog, starting to feel the effects of the cold.“Poppy’s sold you her story, of course. Innocence is bliss, and she is OH so innocent. Did she tell you her part in the Hour of Joy?” He stated, actually surprising me with what he had to say - I didn’t know -, “That she knew it was coming? Or did she leave out that crucial detail?”I listened to him as I placed the battery into the giant saw, switching it on, and dragged it over the grab pack arm, cutting it and freeing me. I picked up my blue hand, holding it in my red hand. I still felt the cold, it was still coming into the room, so I scanned the nearby blue scanner in the corner that controlled the temperature. I shivered as I waited for the scanner to finish.“Yes, that wouldn’t surprise me. Has she not strung you along, betrayed you, and told you only what you needed to know to do exactly as she asked?”As the liquid nitrogen stopped and the rest of my grab pack was freed, I began to think he was right…Poppy had done all of that. She might be on the side of the good, but she wasn’t exactly innocent. She was likely to sacrifice me if it meant she could destroy the Prototype and get her and Kissy out of this place. She hadn’t exactly kept her word when she gave it, hadn’t let me leave when she first said she would.“You see what they do to each other. All they want is violence. Look around, evidence for it is everywhere.” He sighed, “Once they had a choice, once they were ‘free’, THIS was their creation. They’ve made Hell real, and trapped us BOTH there.Despite his words, I continued with the plan as I spotted the plug. I grabbed it, and wandered into a nearby room. The first thing that was clear, there was a pair of lungs inside a machine. I gathered these were Harley’s, considering the higher ups were likely to have kept his major organs around.Putting the plug into the machine caused Harley to groan out in pain.I ran quickly, passed the giant saw and through another shutter door, up a gangway.“You realise the futility of this, don’t you? Meat rots and loses its function, it’s as replaceable as anything else. You’re accomplishing NOTHING.” He stated, as I followed the pathway around, until I came to a smaller surgery room.I stopped when I saw the decomposed body on the table, processing that for a moment, before I realised Harley had shut the doors around me. I glanced around, listening to the elevator type music in the background, as I tried to find something that was going to let me out. There was a code pad on the security system in the corner of the room, one that was likely to let me out. I looked closely at the screens in front of me, seeing that the bodies of various toys laid on the tables, but - along with the numbered anatomy poster on the wall - showed me the code.Entering 35198 into the keypad unlocked the red door.I went through the door, the corridor ahead of it leading to a trio of paths - all had dried blood on them -. I went straight ahead, through a second red door and into another small surgical room. Not seeing much there, I continued on. I was able to hear sounds of tapes being played over the other surgical rooms nearby, as well as the body of a Bubba Bubbaphant mini critter. I cringed as I saw his left eye hanging out, and then a green Huggy Wuggy hung up inside a test tube type container.The sounds of the children telling their doctor’s that they were unable to feel anything, it made me want to cry. Those poor kids. They didn’t deserve that.I followed the white path around the labs, finding a grey VHS tape tucked into another Bubba Bubbaphant that was sitting on the surgery table. Attempting to find a tv, I looked around, but didn’t find one in that room. I continued on, hearing another tape that had Dr White on it talking with a child that sounded hopeful. It was eerie to hear, considering they were most likely turned into a toy.I returned back to the room that didn’t have much in it, finding the TV there. I considered it strange how all of these tapes actually had a matching tv to them. Anyway, random thought aside, I put the tape into the VCR causing an image of paperwork to appear on screen.Dr White’s voice spoke, “It looks like he’s waking up.”A tired Harley asked, “Where am I? What… What is this?” He grunted in pain, having moved, “Oh no… They didn’t. Those backstabbing traitors.”“Dr Sawyer, can you hear me?” Dr White asked.“White?!” He almost shouted; he must not have been in the same room as Dr White and whoever Dr White was speaking to. His voice broke as he spoke, “White, is that you!? Who else is in there with you? You enjoying watching me writhe like one of them?” His temper was rising. He shouted in pain, most likely grabbing his head. He groaned in pain, “My head… Feels like it’s splitting in two…”My suspicions of who turned Harley into the Doctor were correct, especially with what he had done to Dr White. On one hand, I was glad that Harley had experienced what he had done to his patients, to those kids, as it gave him a taste of his own medicine so to speak, but, at the same time, it’s not something to wish on anyone. Even if they do make mistakes, we’re all human at the end of the day. He didn’t… didn’t deserve that, even though he was a dickhead.I hated that I felt bad for him, still.He growled, “This is wrong… You must have done something wrong.”“Some disorientation is to be expected, it’ll -” Dr White explained.“Who gave you the order?” Harley asked, “You SPINELESS cowards, after all I’ve done for this project, for this company…”Leith stepped in, “I gave the order, Sawyer.”“Leith Pierre.” He sounded annoyed as he spoke, still being the arrogant bastard he was, “Of course it’d be you. You have no idea what kind of mistake you’ve just made.”“Really?” Leith gave a short laugh, “From where I’m sitting, you’re the only one who keeps making mistakes that need fixing. We gave you SO many opportunities to clean up your own messes, but you just couldn’t do it, could you?”Harley was in disbelief, and angry, “What?! YOU think you can do better?” He raised his voice, “Nobody else can do what I do! You need MY knowledge, MY intellect!”“Why do you think you’re sitting in there right now, and not in Boxy’s stomach? Let me tell you how this is gonna go, Sawyer: from now on, you’re here to give the lab boys answers when they need them, and carry out procedures when and how we tell you to. That’s it.”This fact made me think that was why he had the smaller Harley bodies as well as the bigger one and the brain in the machine.“You’ll be an open book to us whenever we want.” Leith sounded quite smug as he talked, “So fight, or give in, or whatever, because either way we own the infrastructure you’re wired into.”Him telling Harley to fight or give in reminded me of when Harley had told that to the Prototype… It felt like a bit of karma.“You’ll DIE for this, Leith.” He sounded so bitter as he stated Leith’s name. I got the feeling that Harley was pointing at the one-way mirror (thinking he was most likely in an observation room like the other experiments were put after surgery), which made me give a small giggle. A small feeling of guilt came over me, when I realised he was probably in pain during this since he had just woken up from likely having the surgery. “When I get my hands on you, you’re a DEAD MAN!” He slammed his fist into the mirror, a thud sounding.I wasn’t sure what it was, but the way he stated this to Leith. It just scratched my brain in such a good way. I kinda hoped that Leith got what was coming to him, because he wasn’t innocent, in fact he was probably just as guilty as Harley in this.“This temper is a bad look for you, Harley.” Leith stated smugly, ending the tape.“Wow, okay, what assholes…” I stated aloud, unsure if anyone was listening, “I know I said it before, and despite the shit he’s done and put me through just tonight, but he didn’t deserve that.”“Oh, we’re back to empathy, are we, little bug?” Harley chuckled over the loudspeaker, “Funny that you do that.” He paused for a short moment, before continuing with a tiny hint of regret in his voice, “I admit, having it happen to myself… It made me rethink how I treated people… treated the children.”“... Do you regret it?”“Regret what, darling?”“The experiments…”There was a long moment of silence before he stated, “Do I regret performing experiments that potentially had the ability to save man-kind? No. Do I regret how I treated the kids, and the experiments they became? … I-” He cut himself off, “Oh, that is VERY crafty of you, pet. Getting me to admit to you my feelings. Feelings are a weakness. I figured that out early on, and re-discovered that long after my marriage.”I didn’t even think of the question, it just came out, “... Do… Do you care for me?”No answer.I continued on, sighing at the lack of response from him, unsure to why I thought he was going to answer that he did. It was a stupid idea. I stopped at a vent opening, using the handle to pull myself up with the grab pack. It took me to a viewing area above one of the surgery rooms and, to a degree, one of the documents which I was quick to pocket into my satchel.The viewing area led around to a set of stairs, leading to a surgery room that had the corpse of a small PJ Pug-a-pillar on the operating table.Quickly pressing the red button by the wall, I watched the red cable turn blue. Following it out of the steel door across from me and up the staircase. This led to another viewing walkway above that operating room, and toward a yellow catwalk with a steel door at the end of it.“Why do you submit to their whims?” Harley suddenly felt the need to speak up as I entered, finding another room with a machine that contained one of his organs, “Playtime hurt US. My experiments HURT US.”As he stated this, I thought back to how I had come to not be there the day of the Hour of joy.Bit of a sore spot, but I was let off, as had many other artists. I was given a notice of dismissal, telling me that a FUCKING machine was going to take my job as a toy concept artist. I had been REPLACED and it made me angry. I guess that was part of why I came back, I wanted to rub it in their faces that they really did need me… But, also because a lot of people I cared about were here… Friends. Ones I were close with.“Do you really think Poppy cares about you? She’d sacrifice you in an INSTANT if she believed it meant getting what she wants.”That kind of confirmed my earlier thoughts about Poppy, that she was willing to do ANYTHING to reach her goal, even sacrifice those helping her.“The only difference between her and I…” Harley’s voice rose for a moment, “The ONLY difference is that what I fight for actually gains humanity SOMETHING. Otherwise, what was ANY of this worth? Would you simply make all that sacrifice meaningless?”As I continued through, grabbing the plug to the blue pipe, I had to think for a moment. He did have a point about Poppy… I didn’t feel she cared enough about me to actually be worried if I was hurt… or killed. Especially if it meant reaching her goal. She would most likely find someone else to do it.Harley’s experiments were likely to have done something to help humanity, and if it had been done humanely then I would have agreed more. His lack of sympathy, however, persuaded me to take that plug into the Vital Systems room with the machine.Staring for a short moment at the organ inside the machine, I wasn’t able to stop that thought that Harley was once human. He was a person too, even if he didn’t always act it. He… had his moments, sure, but was I committing murder doing this?I had these thoughts with the others… Catnap… Huggy… Mommy… But, I guess having that connection with Harley, that VERY intimate one, made it feel more personal.Could I come back, if I did? Could I do something where I could give him that second chance after freezing his organs? Would I be able to come back after all is said and done? Maybe…With those questions in mind, I aimed the plug where it needed to go and clenched my eyes shut. I felt reluctant to do it, but I put the plug in place. Hearing his pained groans caused me to cringe and guilt to set in. I especially felt bad when I saw that the heart had fried, and it was not liquid nitrogen that flowed through the wire, but electric.“Fuck…” I muttered to myself, rushing down the stairs; I screeched in fear as Touille jumped at my face from nowhere. “Fuck off!”I threw the rat as far as I was able to, before reaching a hand to my face. Blood was on my fingers as I moved my hand away from my cheeks. It wasn’t much, so I didn’t get too concerned. Just huffed and moved onward to find some crates that I used to create some steps onto the ramp beside me.Seeing the purple hand pad, I used my purple hand to jump across the gap ahead, which led to another, so I jumped across that. I grabbed for the handle above my head with the blue hand - that I had reattached to my grab pack earlier -, and swung across. I went onward, reaching another purple pad that allowed me to jump over an electrified water-filled pit.Cringing as I entered into a large room, seeing as he chuckled.He reminded me, “The experiments killed EVERYONE, including whoever you came back for.”“So you’ve said Harley…” I spotted the handle up high, conveniently with a light on it and illuminating it. As my purple hand reached for it, I was filled with instant regret and pain as electricity ran through my body. Even more so as I fell to the ground below, hitting the concrete floor. I groaned in pain, holding what was possibly a dislocated arm as I looked around in the dark.“Just like them. A blind, scurrying little rat. You think poor Yarnaby was my only pet? You know far less than you believe.” He had the yellow doors around me shut, giving me very little ways out. He put me on edge as he stated that, “Please see that she doesn't eat ALL of you. I'd like there to be SOMETHING I can still use.”Fear ran through me as a shutter door opened, showing something running left and out of view. Something fairly big. Just as I turned around, I caught a glimpse of the black sheep coming out of there as it had spotted me.I ran for my life, knowing that the sheep coming at me was well and truly hungry. Seeing the battery ports, I kept an eye out for the batteries to go into them. I made sure I was far enough away from the creature, as I found a vent that I was able to pry away and sneak into. I found the decayed body of a coworker, along with a keycard that I immediately grabbed. I went back out the way I had come, once seeing it was clear.Baba Chops bit my leg just as I managed to get out of the vent, about to run in the opposite direction.I yelped out, still managing to get away as the sheep creature had scattered off as soon as it dealt damage. My vision went acid green, causing me to shake my head. After a short moment, it went away. Seeing a battery inside one of the cages, I grabbed for it - managing to get it as the Poe inside spooked me.“Not today, Satan…” I yelped as I grabbed the battery and went to the nearest battery port.Putting it in lit up the cable, leading me to a red button. I was quick to push it, and found that it opened a small door to one of the cages. I was too quick grabbing the battery inside to know what was inside the cage. I was more concerned with the sheep on my tail.The demonic bleating behind me caused me to run for it.Another button was soon found, using one of the previous batteries to put in the battery port connected as I was unable to find any more batteries to use. I used the other one on the other side, finding the first led to the keycard scanner. With the keycard scanner working, I quickly put the keycard through it, glad when the door opened and let me into the room.