TW: Seb bwoked his arm(s) “Ghh…” Sebastian grumbled as he sat up from the hard floor. He winced at the stinging pain in both of the arms on his left side. He tried to look around. Despite having opened his eyes, it was still pitch black around him. He waited for a second for his esca to light, tapping it once to try to get it going. It never worked on the first try. He was in a huge cave system, the walls of rock stretching up almost fifty feet. At the top, he saw a small patch of light against the dark stone. That must have been where he’d fallen from. He remembered now- the Hub was crumbling apart after an explosion, and the floor of the room he was in fell out from underneath him. He had no idea this huge cave was just below the main building in Headspace. He moved one of his arms slightly, and winced again at the pain. He glanced down at his left side- both arms were bent in an unnatural way. There was no doubt they were broken. This was one of those times where he was thankful for the third one. He sat up on his tail, letting his hurt arms drop to his side, and using the other to help him travel across the rocks. He didn’t know where he was going, but there had to be some way to get back to the surface. There was no way this entire cave could have gone unnoticed to anyone in Headspace. He moved for around 5-10 minutes before he took a breather near a huge rock formation. His tail was covered in scrapes from sharp edges, and he couldn’t ignore the pain in his arms anymore. His esca flickered slightly. But as he reached up to tap it back to life, he thought he heard a sound echo through the cave. The sound of heavy footsteps. His good hand closed around the hilt of his gun. He squinted out into the darkness, trying to make out what it was. Another light appeared farther back in the cave, behind a huge pile of rocks. A robot with a TV for a head walked out from behind the pile. It stopped, looking Sebastian up and down. “...Hello, Sebastian,” it said. “Doctor Sawyer-?” Sebastian responded, hiding his relief. “What’re you doing down here?” He brought his hand off of his gun and moved forward. “Just ‘Doctor’ is acceptable,” The Doctor corrected. “I was instructed to look around for anyone who might have fallen.” He glanced at Sebastian’s arms. “I take it you fit that criteria.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Willing to help a guy out?” The Doctor nodded. “Follow me,” he said. He and Sebastian talked as they traveled through the caves. “How are things going on the surface?” The Doctor asked. “Horribly, last I checked,” Sebastian responded. “More than half of the Hub is just rubble, and apparently a lot of it fell down here. Most of the Favorites are missing, along with a lot of other characters. Heck, we don’t even know where the OC’s are.” The Doctor simply nodded. “Which, by the way, what is down here? I never knew about it before,” Sebastian added. “Well, my entire system is housed down here,” the Doctor said. “Along with other entities or ideas that are too large to keep in the city. There are hundreds of research stations, all for different purposes, but mostly to keep the surface organized. The west chamber is run by darker thoughts, so we in the city do not have to worry about them.” “You’re fine sharing a space with them?” “Oh, yes. They are dark thoughts, afterall, not intrusive ones. They know to keep to themselves and aren’t prone to cause problems.” “Gotcha.” Sebastian glanced around. “Any way to get back to the surface from here?” “There are hundreds of staircases and elevators set between research stations. I know of two that are only a four minute trek from my main system. So that will not be a problem.” “That’s a relief.” “Though, I would appreciate if you stayed down here until I’ve treated you. Mainly until the surface has been cleaned up a bit. Crystal’s orders.” Sebastian hesitated. “...Yeah, I guess I could.”
“Thank you,” the Doctor said. “Just a moment.” He slowed to a stop, his TV screen changing to white static. Sebastian heard a motor turn on down an offshoot of the cavern. The Doctor’s screen returned to a blue eye a second later. “Head down that tunnel,” He said, gesturing to where the sound had come from. “Another body is waiting for you by the door.” “Great,” Sebastian said. “Thanks again.” He started down the tunnel as the Doctor started back into the caves. Just as he’d said, another robotic body was waiting for Sebastian at the end of the tunnel, standing in front of a large, square doorway. On the other side was a huge warehouse, full of wires, walls of computers, cameras, televisions, and more robotic bodies. At the center was a large metal chamber that everything seemed to be connected to. Sebastian followed the body through the huge room and into an offshooting corridor on the other side. They stepped through a much smaller doorway into a wide hall lined with white curtains. Different colors of light shone through the different curtains. Robotic bodies patrolled up and down the hall, going in and coming out from different rooms. The Doctor pulled away a curtain for Sebastian. “After you,” he said. Sebastian scoffed. The room was small, but surprisingly cozy. The light was low and golden, coming from a small lamp next to a mattress on the floor. A pile of blankets and pillows was folded on the mattress, and a towel sat at the other end. “...This is nice,” Sebastian said. “I do try,” the Doctor responded. “Wait here for a moment, a medical body will be in shortly.” Sebastian nodded, pulling his tail all the way into the room and curling it up against the wall. He sighed slightly. His arms stung like heck. A few minutes passed. He heard the sound of bodies moving around outside, along with voices from somewhere down the hall. As he listened closer, he thought he heard the sound of someone crying. But then another body came into his room with a tray of medical supplies. It sat down next to him and began silently inspecting his arms. An x-ray scan of both arms appeared on its screen. Neither seemed to be doing alright. The screen glitched to static for half of a second before returning to normal. “I’ll have to cut into both arms with you awake,” The Doctor said. “I don’t have all of the supplies I would appreciate using, but if you’re willing to stay calm, I can get this done quickly.” Sebastian nodded. “I’ve been through worse.” “Understood,” The Doctor said. ~~~ Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1291256515/
