Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Long, dark corridors lined with ID-locked doors seemed to stretch on for miles. Faint red and blue lights ran the length of the ceiling, dimly illuminating the hall. The only other light came from the screen of the X Model MePhone who escorted Toilet to the end of the hall and up to a large metal door. The MePhone remained by the door while Toilet entered the room.

Much like the corridor, the room was dark, lit only by a single desk lamp perched atop a tall stack of manuals. Papers were scattered all over the floor and pinned to the walls. There was a small table tucked into the corner, and leaning over it was the imposing figure of a large corn cob.

"Mistah Cobs, he found us out–"

"I know. I'm not happy about it, but we'll just have to roll with it. You gathered a fair amount of intel for me, so at least it wasn't all in vain." Steve Cobs finally turned to face Toilet. "But enough about my renegade charge, I need something else from you. That little red fan fellow with the egg, do you know where he got it?"

-

It was 2:00 AM, and Toilet was traversing the dark hallways, alone this time. Cobs' interest in Fan's egg had struck Toilet as odd during their conversation earlier in the evening, and he had been waiting until he knew that the coast would be clear for him to return and see if he could find anything of interest. He used a doctored pass card to temporarily disable the room's security before entering.

Toilet picked his way through the chaos, scanning the room for anything of value as he made his way towards the table in the back. Just like the floor, the table was covered in miscellaneous books and folders.
Tucked between a book on quantum mechanics and a folder labeled 'Sightings' was a crumpled piece of paper that caught Toilet's eye. Toilet unfolded the paper and immediately knew he had found exactly what he was looking for. He pulled out a small electronic device and used it to scan the crumpled paper as well as a few other things on the table before carefully placing everything back exactly as he had found it.

-

At 3:00 AM, a corporate headquarters in Washington state received a call from an untraceable source.

"Mistah Eights, I know what Cobs is planning."

Chapter Text

Toilet sat in the Meeple Library, flipping through company records. Specifically, he was looking for gaps in the records. Missing termination records, weirdly high energy expenditures with no clear reason, unaccounted for funds, etc.

"What are you doing?" Toilet looked up to see the pixelated face of Mecintosh on one of the nearby computers.

"Reading."

"The company records?"

"I'm looking for information that I can use against MePhone4. Dijja just come here to bothah me?"

"Cobs wants to see you at 6:30 PM today."

"Alright."

Toilet pretended to read a couple of MePhone related files while Mecintosh stared at him. If he was going to stay here, Toilet decided he might as well use the computer to his advantage.

"You've been here a very long time, right? Can I ask you a question?" Toilet asked.

"Of course."

"There’s no recahd of MePhone3GS' termination, but I've never seen that model around headquarters. Do you know what that's about?"

"...No."

"Hmm, it was probably just misplaced then," Toilet said, casually dropping the subject. Clearly, something was up with the 3GS model's termination, and as it lined up perfectly with the records showing a large amount of funds being funneled into unnamed 'research projects', Toilet figured that that was what he needed to look into next.

The computer screen turned off, meaning that Mecintosh had left to go somewhere else. Toilet made sure he was gone before pulling out his device to scan the records before putting them back. He turned to leave the library, but paused. Looking old and worn amongst all the shiny, new MePhone files was Mecintosh's over-stuffed file. Toilet carefully pulled it out.

The file was filled with yellowing pages dating from 1984 to 1988. In front of everything was a single new piece of paper with a few notes scribbled on it.

'February 12, 2015

Unit has been taken out of storage and placed in Meeple Care.'

Toilet knew all about that. Mecintosh had been placed to monitor Meeple Care in order to report back on any activity. They had been expecting a group to attempt the theft, but Suitcase coming in alone allowed for a great opportunity for Cobs to indirectly dig his claws further into the game. Toilet had... certain opinions on Cobs' methods, but he had to keep a low profile.

Toilet remembered how Cobs had strayed from the plan, requesting the egg in exchange for a battery. He had been confused by this at first, but looking back, it all made sense. He kept reading.

'Unit seems distressed at mentions of the storage room. This can be used.'

Chapter Text

Toilet let himself into the surveillance room with his doctored key card and quietly closed the door behind him. Mecintosh was set up on a desk. A handful of wires plugged into his back connected him to the Meeple system and allowed him throughout the headquarters via the same system that was used to make sure the employees weren't playing video games on the company computers. Toilet yanked the cords out of Mecintosh, severing his connection.

"Wha- Hey! What are you doing?! If Cobs finds out you're in here–"

"Shut up or I'll shattah your screen and get you sent back into storage! Tell me everything, and I'll keep you out of storage."

Mecintosh fell quiet. Toilet made sure the door was locked so that nobody could get in before turning back to Mecintosh.

"What do you know about MePhone3GS?"

Mecintosh immediately spilled everything he knew. "He’s in the locked storage room on the East Wing. Cobs shut him down after he returned from a failed mission. I don't know what the mission was about, I was already in storage. From what I gathered, he had gone out with MePhone and MePhone3G, both of which who never returned. Sometimes, 3GS would glitch out and start repeating things from the mission. Something about eggs being under attack."

Toilet listened intently. "What else?"

"That's all I know, I swear! Please don't let him put me back in storage!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you tell Cobs about this."

"Wait, what are you doing!? ARE YOU GOING TO KIL–" Mecintosh was cut off as Toilet hit his power button and turned him off. He carefully hid the unconscious computer in a box of wires and walked it out of the room as if he had simply been making a delivery.

Mecintosh was too dangerous to leave alone, but he knew too much about the Meeple company to get rid of him. Toilet kept him hidden away until the work day was over.

-

Back at his inconspicuously tiny apartment, Toilet powered Mecintosh back on. "Good morning, sunshine! I kept you out of storage, jus like I said I would!"

Mecintosh nervously looked around. The apartment wasn't well furnished as it was used more as a base of operations than a home. "Where am I?"

"I cannot disclose that information," Toilet said. His expression softened as he added, "Sorry about that."

"You... didn't kill me?"

"And I'd rathah not have to, so you bettah be on your best behavior, alright?"

Mecintosh's face shifted up and down his screen in a digital nod. "So... what are you going to do with me now?"

"I'm going to have to keep you here for my own safety, you undahstand. I can't risk you getting in the way of my mission and warning Cobs. It's not that bad, though. I have a TV in the corner over there. You can watch it all you want while you're here. It only gets the weathah and the history channel, though."

"...What kind of captor are you?" Mecintosh asked incredulously.

"Not a very good one, I'll admit. My work doesn't usually involve kidnapping," Toilet explained.

"No kidding..."

Chapter Text

MePhone3GS sat propped against the far wall, technically not dead but certainly not alive. His screen was marred with a series of massive cracks, and his bezel seemed to be separating from the rest of his body. Dried, white battery acid had built up on the left side of the phone's body, where the separation was greatest. Toilet watched as a spider crawled over 3GS' face.

Toilet made his way over, carefully closing the door behind him. He took out a paperclip and shaped it into a makeshift SIM-eject tool. He inserted it into the SIM tray and began to pull the tray out.

"PLEASE COBS, DON'T! PLEASE COBS, DON'T!"

Toilet jolted back as 3GS started screaming. Toilet frantically tried to turn the phone off. If he kept screaming like this, someone would surely hear! Toilet grabbed the paperclip and braced himself before shoving it under MePhone3GS' bezel and punctured the battery. The bezel completely separated and clattered on the ground as the battery exploded, sending out a wave of heat. At least he was quiet now... and dead. Well, only the body was dead. Toilet grabbed the SIM card and quickly made his escape.

-

"This evening, temperatures will drop into the 50s with a 75% chance of rain."

Mecintosh shifted his eyes from the weather report on the old, blocky TV to Toilet as he entered the apartment. "Temperatures are dropping into the 50s this evening with a 75% chance of rain, if you were wondering," he said.

"I wasn't," Toilet said, "but thank you anyway." He picked his way over to a laptop sitting on what would have been the kitchen table if this had been a normal apartment. He started fiddling with some of the nearby equipment, attaching it to the laptop in different places.

"What do you have there?"

Toilet held up the SIM card with a grin. "MePhone3GS." He slipped the chip into the laptop's SIM reader and powered it on. Mecintosh watched intently as Toilet began downloading data from the SIM card onto the laptop. Suddenly, the laptop screen went black. A loading bar appeared before the screen switched to gray. In the middle of the screen was a little digital face.

"H-hello?"

Toilet could have shrieked with joy. "Yes, it worked! Hello there, chum! Don't be scared, you're safe. Cobs can't get you here."

3GS blinked in surprise. "Th-thank you. Thank you very much."

"Wow. I can't believe you were actually able to recover him. I thought his memory chip would have been too damaged." Mecintosh wiggled on the concrete floor as he tried to turn around. Toilet went over and picked him up, bringing him over to the table. "I'm Mecintosh. You probably don't remember me, but Cobs put us away into the same storage room. You... you used to scream a lot."

"Oh. I don't remember that, I'm sorry. I don’t remember much of anything after I was shattered."

"By Cobs?"

"By the aliens."

"By the what now?"

"The Light Shimmahs," Toilet piped in.

3GS looked back over at Toilet. "You know about the Light Shimmers?"

Toilet nodded. "I know what Cobs plans to do, but I don't know the details and I need your help if I hope to stop him before he can hurt anybody else."

"Okay," 3GS said. "I'll do whatever I can to help you."

Chapter Text

"We found the Light Shimmers by simple mistake while mining metallic asteroids for gold and other precious metals needed to build our electronic components. They took us to their planet, rich in mineral materials, and shared their resources and knowledge with us. We discovered that they powered their society from a source far more efficient than anything on Earth, able to produce thousands of megaelctron volts per second: their own natural light energy.

We returned to Earth to relay all that we had learned to our creator. He was amazed. Multiple times he sent us back to the Light Shimmers, offering tools and trinkets in exchange for raw materials and information. Eventually, we were sent with far more malicious instructions. We began harvesting light energy, draining it from the same creatures who had helped us build our empire. Without their light, the Shimmers quickly died, and Cobs knew our tactics wouldn't be sustainable.

By this time, the Light Shimmers had begun to fight back, and we were out of time. Under Cobs' order, we took their offspring and ran, intending to conduct further research while back on Earth. We were pursued, and 3G and the Original were killed. I was shattered and lost the eggs in my flight. I made it back to Earth, but I had failed my mission. Cobs severed me from the system."

Chapter Text

"Yes, Mistah Eights, I've been able to verify all his claims... No, I haven't been able to find anything furthah. Meeple's security software is incredibly strong... Neither of them have been able to break through... I see... Yes, I do believe I could get that to you... Mhm... I'll see what I can do. Thank you." Toilet hung up the phone and sighed.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find anything," 3GS said.

"No, no, it's alright. You two have already been a massive help," Toilet reassured. "We may not have exact details, but we know a lot more about Cobs plans now than we did before. Since we can't figure out how far along he is, we'll just have to work under the assumption that the second invasion could occur any day now. It's not the most comforting thought, but at least Mistah Eights has confirmed that Open Doors is already working on a defense plan."

"And what does he want US to do about it?" Mec had been a lot more cooperative after seeing Toilet bring 3GS back from the brink of death, but he still kept his biting tone.

"Mistah Eights wants a report on Meeple's weaponry and aerospace technology. He wants to know what we'll be going up against. What kind of ships, what kind guns, what kind of troops–"

"Probably MePhones."

"Yes, I know that. I mean the kind of functions they are capable of. You know, laser blasters, x-ray vision, teleportation..."

Mec scoffed. "I might have been inactive for the good part of 40 years, but I'm pretty sure teleportation hasn't been invented yet."

"Ha, you'd be surprised! I knew this guy who–..." Toilet stopped himself.

"Who what?" 3GS asked.

"Nevermind, it doesn't matter anymore."

3GS made a sad beeping noise, but didn't press the issue any further.

Mec cleared his throat, despite not actually needing to because he didn't have a throat. "Well... moving on!"

-

Toilet uploaded and sent off his final report while Mec read off his notes to 3GS. "5 landers at stand by, 7 more in production. 3 mining penetrators. All landers outfitted with laser weaponry. Orders for the production of 50 MePhone soldiers, model X. Outfit soldiers with electrokinesis, teleportation–"

"Told you so."

"Shut up."

Chapter Text

Toilet hesitantly hovered over the call button.

"If they know as much as you say they do, you have to call him. It's what you're being paid to do," Mec said.

"I know, but I didn't leave on the best of terms with Model 4. It's quite possible that none of them will even be allowed to speak with me."

"You still have to try."

"...I know."

Mec gave Toilet a curious look. "You’re a lot more apprehensive about this than you've been about anything else. Is there something else you aren't telling us?"

"No! Well, I mean, not really. I... It's just complicated. I was playing a character for so long around him, it feels strange to be approaching him as myself for once. Opening a conversation by telling him that I've been lying to him since the beginning doesn't seem like the best tactic for building trust."

"Then don't tell him yet. Get him to agree to meet first."

"Do you really think that will work?"

"No."

Toilet sighed. "Alright. I'll be back in a second." Toilet went into the other room and closed the door. He took a deep breath and hit the call button. The other side picked up almost immediately.

"You've reached Inanimate Insanity, I'm MePad, how can I help you?"

Toilet's heart was hammering. He choked on his words before quickly regaining his composure and throwing on his facade. "Hello, it's Toilet! I know I'm not supposed to call, but I really need to talk to you about something really important! Is there any way that we can meet up?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "...You won't be able to enter within show parameters, but we can meet at the southern coast. When do you want to meet?"

Toilet was taken aback by how willing MePad was to disobey MePhone4. "As soon as possible! I can be there by tomorrow!"

"Okay, I'll be there at around 19:00." There was a long pause. "...I'm sorry for everything that happened. I know you have no ill intentions, and I tried to reason with him, I really did."

"...Yeah, I know… I have to go now." Toilet quickly hung up. 

Chapter Text

Toilet stood on the southern beach of Inanimate Island, a few miles south of Hotel OJ. The sun had just barely started to set, and he nervously checked the time. MePad should be here soon...if he had been telling the truth. Toilet had never known MePad to lie, but he was still working under MePhone4. It was possible that he had been made aware of this. That would certainly throw a wrench in the plans.

"Toilet?"

Toilet looked up to MePad walking towards him. He perked up and greeted him. "I wasn't sure you were coming."

"I am here," MePad said in his neutral, reassuring tone. "You had something important you needed to talk about?"

Toilet took a deep breath and decided to be direct. "Cobs is planning on attacking an alien planet in order to steal their energy and take over the world. Everyone is in grave dangah, and I need your help to stop him."

MePad was quiet for a long time before he spoke. "Okay. What do you need me to do?"

Toilet blinked in surprise. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. "I–...Just like that?"

"I trust you, Toilet. If you say that everyone is in danger, then I believe you. What do you need me to do?"

Toilet felt a little teary-eyed. "Thank you. I need to speak with Fan and Test Tube. Do they still have the egg?"

"They do not, they returned it to its parents."

"They met the Light Shimmahs? Even better. Is Test Tube still in the game?"

MePad paused to consider the question. "She is off island filming for season 3. MePhone is also off island currently."

"Season 3? Is season 2 ov– nevahmind, it's not important right now. Is Fan still on the island?"

"Yes, he is at the hotel. The hotel is off show grounds, so I could take you there if you'd like," MePad said.

"Thank you," Toilet said. "Once I talk to him, I'll explain everything to you. I promise."

-

"I think these are the right blueprints. I don't really know, though. I deliver Chinese food, I'm not an engineer." Fan unrolled a few diagrams and laid them out on the table. He pointed at a sketch of a laser gun. "Test Tube made a few prototypes of that before we left, but she took them all apart afterwards."

"That's fine, thank you," Toilet replied, looking over the blueprints. "And the ship, does it work?"

"Yes! We've used it a few times to visit our little buddy. We keep it behind the hotel if you'd like to take a look at it."

"That'd be great, thank you." Toilet pulled out his scanning device. "Would it be alright if I took a few pictuahs?"

"Uh, yeah, I don't see why not. I'm sure Test Tube would be more than happy to know that her plans helped save an entire alien planet!"

Toilet nodded and took a few scans. He had already recorded Test Tube's notes on the Light Shimmers and their planet, as well as a verbal statement from Fan. Many of the other hotel residents offered to help when they found out what was going on, but their input was unfortunately not very useful. It was a nice gesture though.

A few of the residents watched Toilet warily, which was understandable. He couldn't expect everyone to trust him right after revealing that he had been lying to them the entire time they had known him, especially considering some of their experiences with a particular past contestant. Toilet couldn't really tell how MePad felt about it, but he seemed to be taking it in stride.

Of course, there were still plenty of things Toilet couldn't reveal to them due to the confidential nature of his job. He had told them only what they absolutely needed to know, plus just a little extra to prove it was true and get them to trust him a bit. A person's trust, to Toilet, was the only tool more powerful than their underestimation of him. It also felt a lot nicer.

Chapter Text

"Yes, Mistah Eights, I sent him with all the propah equipment... He said he was on positive terms with them, so hopefully they'll agree to set up a line of direct communication... No, I'm not currently able to reach the engineer... I undahstand... Well, that's great news!... Alright, thank you."

Toilet hung up and readjusted his grip on Mec and 3GS. He thought it would be safest for them to get as far away from Meeple Headquarters as possible, especially since Cobs had been sending out search patrols ever since he noticed that Mec was missing, and OJ had offered to take them in. Toilet opened the door to the hotel and was not met with the scene he had been expecting.

"What, you didn't think I'd find out!?"

"No, not really."

"Excuse me!?"

Mec, like the little goblin he was, decided that this was the perfect time to draw attention to himself and cleared his throat. Both MePad and MePhone4, as well as the hotel residents who were watching what was currently going down in their lobby, turned to look at the newcomers. MePhone glared at Toilet and curled his lip, while MePad looked stressed and apologetic.

"I'm so sorry, I promise I didn't mean to te–"

"Well, well, well, look who it is!" MePhone threw his hands up. He turned back to growl at MePad, "And I wonder who invited him."

MePad took a deep breath. "He’s a lot more trustworthy than you thi–"

"I don't care if YOU think he's trustworthy or not!" MePhone shouted, cutting off MePad. "I don't care if he works for Meeple, I don't care if he's a double agent for Open Doors! Either way he's a liar!"

"But he’s trying to help us! Why can't you see that?"

"And why can't you just do what I say!? I raised you!

"I'm still my own person! I have my own thoughts and feelings, and I can make my own choices! I don't owe you anything!" This was the most emotion Toilet had ever seen MePad show, and it was startling.

"IF YOU DON'T GET RID OF HIM RIGHT NOW I'LL–"

"You'll what?" MePad said, his tone sharply changing from desperate to cold. They stared at each other in tense silence for a long time. Finally, MePhone broke the silence.

"Don’t expect me to come save you when your choices get you hurt." Without another word, Mephone turned and left.

Chapter Text

The hotel was eerily silent except for the sound of Soap washing the dishes from that evening's dinner. Toilet had gone upstairs with Fan after he had returned to discuss how the meeting with the Light Shimmers had gone. MePad was sat on the sofa, feeling completely lost for the first time in his life.

"You know, I think you did the right thing by standing up for yourself." MePad looked over at Mecintosh, who had been placed on the coffee table. "I know that it's confusing, but sometimes our authority figures are wrong, and it's okay to call them out on it. If he really cares about you, he'll come around."

MePad blinked. "Do you really think so?"

"I know so. You have good judgment– everyone here can see that– and you don't deserve to be yelled at for speaking on it."

MePad looked down for a moment before returning his gaze to Mec. "Thank you."

-

"I still can't seem to get a hold of Test Tube..."

"Yeah, there is absolutely no cell service on Indefinite Island."

"Well, that's inconvenient."

"Tell me about it."

Fan and Paintbrush were hanging around the lobby, both trying their hardest to get a call through.

"All my calls to Nickel are being canceled. I think MePhone might have cut off our connection with the other contestants still in the game," Baseball said. The 4 remaining season 2 contestants had returned to the hotel after MePad had explained what was going on.

Fan had tried to call Test Tube first, as she was the obvious person to turn to for help. When she couldn't be reached, they had tried to call the season 3 contestants to see if they could contact her from where they were, but nothing. Having run into a wall here, Toilet no longer had a reason to stay. He had to get back to Meeple Headquarters to prevent suspicions and keep an eye on things, so he left the next day.

-

Toilet sat across from Steve Cobs at the latter's desk. Cobs eyed Toilet with a blank expression for a long time before speaking.

"I suppose you've already heard the rumors that we have a rat among us."

"Yes, Mistah Cobs."

"As a spy yourself, I need you to find out who it is and where they're keeping our stolen technology. We need to get to the bottom of this before they're able to leak anything." Cobs pulled out a key card and handed it over. "You can start with the security footage since our previous monitor was stolen."

Toilet nodded and took the card. "Thank you, Mistah Cobs. I won't let you down."

Cobs smiled and nodded. "Let’s hope not."

Chapter Text

Cabby sat on the beach, watching the waves roll in. She had been coming here a lot recently to get away from the tension back at camp. No matter how hard she tried, nobody really seemed to like, especially knowing that she was one of the last people not in Silver's stupid alliance.

Cabby glanced down as something bumped her, and jumped out of the way when she saw that it was a crab. She did want to get pinched just for being in the creature’s way. There was a little trail of damp sand directly from the water up to Cabby's side where the crab had scuttled. It stared at her for a few moments before reaching up with its claws like a child who wanted to be picked up. The crab seemed almost tame, and Cabby thought that she had seen it somewhere before.

Cabby picked up the crab to get a better look at it. It was bright red all over, except for a weird black line peeking out from underneath it. Wait a second... Cabby flipped the crab over to reveal a message scribbled on its ventral side in black marker.

-

"I knew something was up!"

"No wonder nobody was answering my texts!"

"What should we do about this?"

"Lightbulb's handwriting is really bad."

The season 3 contestants had gathered in the Pinkers bunkhouse to discuss what Cabby had found. Though they couldn't agree on most things, everyone agreed that this was bad news through and through.

"What should we do?" Balloon asked again.

"I say we march up to MePhone and demand to know what's going on!" Silver Spoon said.

"No way! Who knows what he'll do if we try that!" Nickel fired back.

Bot spoke up. "I think someone needs to go to Indefinite Island and tell Test Tube what's going on. She's smart, she'll know what to do."

"I agree," Cabby said. Baxter, who was sitting atop Cabby's head, clicked his claws in approval. "We don't have time to wait for the next elimination, though. We need to act n–"

"What are you guys talking about?" Everyone immediately went quiet and turned to look behind them at The Floor. He smiled and looked from face to face. When nobody responded, his smile dropped. "Come on, I just want to help! I know I'm sort of like your boss now, but you can still talk to me!" He smiled again. "I promise I won't tell MePhone anything," He added with a wink.

The contestants looked at each other. Silver and Nickel shook their heads. Balloon shrugged, and Yin and Yang seemed to be having conflicting responses. Bot nodded and gave 2 thumbs up. Cabby turned to Candle.

Silver Spoon gently nudged Candle, expecting her to take his side. She glanced over at The Floor before shifting to stand closer to Bot. "The Floor can go anywhere without anyone noticing he's gone…"

Chapter Text

Toilet sat in the security room running fake scan after fake scan on the computer so that if anybody checked the logs, it would appear as though he had been working the entire time. Off to the side, he had his communication device out to receive updates from Eights and MePad.

Open Doors had made quick work of Test Tube's blueprints, meshing it with their existing technology to create a bunch of rushed but decent fleets that were ready to go at a moment's notice. Of course, they were still working on building better and more advanced ships, but it was comforting to know that they had some amount of offensive power.

There was a clicking noise as someone opened the door to the security room. Toilet looked over to see a MePhone14. In its mechanical voice, it said, "Cobs wishes to speak with you. Please follow me."

"Of course, just give me a moment to finish up h–" Toilet was cut off as the model 14 grabbed him and dragged him away from the computer.

"It is urgent. You must come now." The phone led Toilet to Cobs' office.

Toilet wondered what could be so important that Cobs had to speak with him right now. Did he need him to go back out into the field and spy for him? Had he found another lead on where he had hidden Mec? Maybe he trusted him enough to finally reveal his plan to attack the Light Shimmers. The model 14 phone opened the door to Cobs' office, and Toilet entered.

Cobs was standing by his master computer, watching something on the screen. Or rather, watching nothing. He was watching CCTV footage from one of Meeple's bug cameras. The screen showed a completely empty camp in some sort of tropical environment.

"Mistah–?"

"They’re missing. The current contestants have vanished. Something is wrong."

Toilet drew closer to the screen. This must be footage of the season 3 camp. Just like Cobs said, there was not a single contestant to be seen. A few more seconds later, the door to one of the bunkhouses opened. MePhone4 stepped out, and The Floor popped into existence beside him. MePhone said something to Floory while looking frustrated. Floory said something in return and disappeared. Once he was gone, MePhone's expression immediately shifted from one of annoyance to one of worry and concern. It seemed that he also didn't know what happened to the contestants. However, Toilet immediately knew what had happened. He'd have to ask MePad later how they had gotten a message through.

Toilet looked up at Cobs. "Where do you think they went?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it bodes well for us. Have you found out anything about our rat?"

"No, they've covered their tracks well."

Cobs narrowed his eyes, still looking at the screen. "I think it's that briefcase girl."

"Suitcase? Why?"

"She's stolen from us before, what's stopping her from trying again? She has reason enough to want to steal Mecintosh, and she's friends with that one season 3 contestant. They're all competing for money, she may have told them that she has value tech and information that they can sell for far more instead." Cobs paused, turning to Toilet. "I've already sent someone to take care of her. You can cease looking into it now. You are dismissed."

Toilet nodded and left. Once he had gotten far enough away, he slipped into the nearest room and reached for his communication device to warn MePad. Toilet froze in horror. He had never picked up his device from the security room.

Chapter Text

Screams filled the halls of Hotel OJ. Laser blasts boomed and shook the building, walls crumbling with each hit. OJ's voice could be heard above it all, urging people to find the nearest unguarded exit and evacuate, but it was no use. The hotel was surrounded, there were no unguarded exits. Even if there were, there was no way anybody could have gotten to one in the chaos.

"Lightbulb! Fan! Where are you?" "Watch out!" "Is anyone still in their rooms?" "Paintbrush! We're over here!" "Suitcase?" "Has anyone seen Pepper?" "The door is stuck!" "I know you're scared, Suitcase! Just follow my voice, you'll be okay!" "Stand back, I'm going to break it down!" "Someone needs to go help Bomb!"

"I need everyone to stay calm and go to the basement!" OJ shouted. "Leave everything where it is, just get yourself down there! Paper and I will help any stragglers!"

"Alright everyone, you heard the man! Head to the basement, let's go, let's go, let's go!" Paintbrush worked their way to the front of the crowd, leading the way downstairs with Lightbulb and Fan right behind them, followed by everyone else. OJ ran over to Tissues and Trophy's room to help Trophy take down the door and get Tissues out, while Paper grabbed the otherside of the blanket Soap was holding up to try to keep debris from falling on Bomb and triggering an explosion. MePad teleported Mec and 3GS to the basement, and OJ locked the door behind them right as the attackers made it through the front door.

The residents sat in silence, biting back sobs in an attempt to not be found. They could hear footsteps above them walking all over the hotel, searching for them. After a while everything went silent... Then someone started pounding on the basement door.

Chapter Text

"Oh, God..."

The season 3 contests stood frozen in front of what once was Hotel OJ. Entire portions of wall had collapsed, leaving the entire area covered in rubble, much of it burnt. Test Tube slowly approached the ruins.

"Fan? Lightbulb? Anyone?" She stood by the destroyed front door and looked in.

"Careful! This place looks like it could collapse at any minute!" Lifering warned.

"Is anyone... in there?" Silver Spoon asked Test Tube.

"I can't tell for sure, but I don't think so."

Balloon let out an audible sigh of relief. At least everybody had gotten out. "What do you think happened here? A fire?"

"And where did everybody go?" Cabby asked. She held Baxter close, the crab looking just as shocked as everyone else.

"These aren't fire burns, they're too concentrated. These were made deliberately." Test Tube turned back to the group, her expression hard. "Meeple did this. It had to have been them."

"They took our friends?" Balloon sounded like he might cry.

"Well, then we have to get them back!" Nickel shouted.

Silver crossed his arms. "Since when do YOU care about other people?"

Nickel glared back, but Yang spoke before he could. "We could ask YOU the same thing."

"Excuse me!?"

"Uh, maybe we should try not fighting..."

"Oh, shut up, Goo!"

"Hey, don't yell at him! He didn't do anything!"

"You’re right, he has done nothing! Almost as much nothing as BLUEBERRY!"

"I don't want to be a part of this."

"EVERYBODY! SHUT. UP." Cabby yelled. Everybody turned to look at her. "This is NOT the time to be arguing amongst ourselves! Our friends could be dying, and we can't even get along for long enough to do anything!"

Silver and Nickel looked down, ashamed.

"Thank you, Cabby," Test Tube said. Cabby was surprised for a moment before smiling and nodding. She moved to give Test Tube the 'stage.' "Alright, everybody. We're going to need a plan before we go running head first into danger, so let's get brainstorming!"

Chapter Text

Toilet stood in front of Cobs, restrained on either side by MePhones. Cobs scowled at Toilet, holding his Open Doors issued communication device in his hand.

"You’re not very good at what you do, are you?"

"I'm good enough at it to have my messages auto-delete aftah an hour, so good luck finding any information on there," Toilet spit.

"Then I guess you'll just have to tell me everything yourself."

Toilet laughed. "You won't get a word out of me!"

Cobs smiled, and expression that chilled Toilet to the bone. "We'll see about that. Take him away!" Cobs turned back to his computer. "Initiate Plan Starlight."

Toilet struggled futilely as the two MePhones dragged him out of Cobs' office and took him outside to the courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard, a group of MePhones were bringing in captives. Though he couldn't see them yet, Toilet's heart dropped knowing exactly who they were.

"Toilet?" MePad whispered as they were dragged closer. The other hotel residents looked up with varying degrees of terrified expressions.

"I'm so sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen. I'm going to figure something out I promise," Toilet whispered back before he was roughly shoved forwards as his captors continued to walk on. As he was led past, Toilet noticed that Fan was hiding his phone from the guards. They shared a look and Toilet whispered, "It has begun."

Fan nodded, and with his phone still hidden and silent, sent out an alert to Open Doors and the Light Shimmers to prepare for an attack. The hotel residents were led away to another part of the complex, and not knowing what would happen to them, Fan sent out one more message and prayed that it would get through.

-

Bot gently tapped Test Tube on the shoulder. "We're ready to go."

Test Tube looked up from her phone with teary eyes and nodded. "Okay, I'll be there in a second."

Bot frowned and gave Test Tube a hug. "It'll be okay. You're plan will work, I'm sure of it."

"Oh, sheifale, I hope you're right…"

Chapter Text

"I'm very disappointed in you, Mecintosh. I made you, I raised you, I kept you safe and secure, I gave you access to the entire computer system, and this is how you repay me? By trying to hurt me? Why would you do that?" Cobs gently set Mec down in one of the rooms in Meeple Care.

"I hate you!" Mec shouted.

Cobs sighed. "It seems you're not ready to talk yet, so I'll leave you to think about what you've done. A few more years alone should do you some good."

"Wait–"

Cobs got up and turned off the light.

"No! No, you can't leave me here! Don't leave me alone again!"

"You shouldn't have misbehaved," Cobs said before closing and locking the door behind him.

"No! No! Please! Please, I'll do anything! Don't leave me here!" Mec cried into the empty darkness.

-

Toilet doubled over in pain as the MePhone guard hit him over and over again.

"That's enough, let him up." The guard stepped back, and Toilet looked up to see Cobs enter the room. "Hello, Toilet. How are you doing?"

Toilet silently glared at Cobs, who laughed in response.

"You know, this can stop anytime you want. Just tell me what I want to know, and you can go. You can leave all of this behind and live out the last few decades of your life in peace."

"I'd rather die," Toilet spit.

"As you wish," Cobs said, turning away with a shrug. The guard pulled out a stun baton, and the room quickly filled with screams of agony.

Chapter Text

"It's going to be okay, I promise. I won't let them hurt you," Baseball whispered to Suitcase. Baseball, Suitcase, Soap, Pickle, Microphone, and Paper were locked in the same filthy, makeshift dungeon cell in one of Meeple's warehouses. The hotel residents had been split up into 3 groups once they had entered the warehouse, each group taken to a different part of the building.

Baseball and Suitcase sat at one side of the cell. Baseball spoke gently to Suitcase, trying to keep her calm. Though he didn't know the full extent of what she was going through, he understood that she needed to know that she wasn't alone. It also gave him something to focus on other than the endless list of things that could happen to them.

Paper was also struggling to keep it together, though for a different reason than Suitcase. He was trapped in a confined space with nothing but his fellow prisoners. There was no escape, and the metal bars of their cell felt so familiar... Paper took a deep breath. He was the co-manager of Hotel OJ. These people looked to him to help them in their daily lives, and now they looked to him to help them here. He knew he'd have to do some serious decompressing later, but right now he had to be a leader.

"Okay, apart from being locked in a dungeon, how are we all doing right now?" Paper ask.

"Could be better," Microphone grumbled.

"Could be worse!" Baseball said, trying to inject some optimism into the situation.

"You know, I'm getting a lot of Riften Jail vibes from this place," Pickle said.

Soap crossed her arms. "If we have to escape through a sewer, I'm just going to stay here."

"Okay, then I'll escape through the sewer and get help," Pickle said.

"Get help from whom? We haven't heard back from the other contestants, we don’t know if they even got our message. Is there some OTHER person you know on the island?" Soap asked, rolling her eyes.

Pickle and Microphone exchanged a glance before Microphone said, "Nope, no one."

"Well, then I guess we're stuck here."

-

OJ slammed into the door again. A loud crunch was heard, and he recoiled in pain.

"Oh my God, are you okay!?" Paintbrush exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just popped my shoulder." OJ gingerly rolled his shoulder a few times. "So I think we can check that solution off as 'not effective.' What’s next on the list?"

OJ, Paintbrush, Lightbulb, Fan, Pepper, and the Cherries were stuck in their own little dungeon cell together, trying to come up with a way to get out.

"You know, I could probably chew through these walls if I tried hard enough," Lightbulb said.

"Yeah, no. You're just going to break your teeth if you try to do that," Paintbrush said.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Fan gently cradled his phone in his arms. One of the guards had caught him with it earlier and broken it. A massive crack ran across the front and back of the phone, making the image of a test tube on the back feel morbid instead of comforting to Fan like it used to be.

"I miss Test Tube."

"I miss her, too." Lightbulb put an arm around Fan. "But don't worry. Baxter knows what he's doing; he'll find her."

"No offense, but Baxter is just a crab," one of the Cherries said. "He is probably long gone by now," the other said.

Lightbulb shook her head. "You don't know him like I do. Baxter always comes back."

"Unless a shark ate him because you THREW HIM INTO THE OCEAN," Paintbrush pointed out.

Lightbulb rolled her eyes. "Most sharks live in coastal waters where there's more food. Baxter has to cross mainly open ocean where there aren't sharks. He's fine."

Pepper sniffed. "Salt used to love the ocean..."

"She's not dead, she's just in the other room!"

"I know!" Pepper sobbed. "I just miss her so much!"

Paintbrush had to hold OJ back from slamming himself into the door again.

-

"So what do you call a cow with no legs?"

"I know you're trying to lighten the mood, but I think we'd all be happier if you would just shut up."

"I'm going to have to agree with Knife on this one,"

"...Nevermind, tell as many jokes as you want, as long as it pisses Trophy off."

Cheesy, Knife, Trophy, Tissues, Bomb, Salt, and MePad were the final group of residents trapped in the warehouse, and they were the group that was getting along the worst. While everyone else was arguing, MePad was examining their cell. There was some sort of contraption on the ceiling just outside of the bars that was preventing him from teleporting or accessing any of his applications.

"You guys, can you stop fighting? It's starting to hurt my head," Tissues complained.

"Everything hurts your head," Salt said, but they did stop arguing.

"MeP-Pad, what are y-y-you d-doing?"

Everyone turned to see that MePad had gotten a hold of some scrap plastic tubing and was trying to push it up the wall to hit the thing on the ceiling. The tube slipped and clattered onto the group.

"I am trying to disable the device up there. It is suppressing my teleportation abilities."

"So if we break that thing, we can, like, get out of here?" They all looked at each other. "So who's gonna be on the bottom of the ladder?"

Chapter Text

Toilet closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was restrained, tied to a chair with rope. His most recent interrogator had left the room, leaving him alone. One he was sure that no one could hear him, Toilet began to shift in his seat, slowly working the chair over to a sealed-off pipe coming out of the floor. He shift again to get some slack on the rope and get it over the pipe.

Toilet paused to listen, and when he didn't hear anything from outside, he flung himself and the chair to the side. The rope caught him, so he brought himself back up and tried again, this time with more force. The rope snapped, sending Toilet and the chair crashing onto the concrete floor. He laid in silence for 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes... No sounds outside. Good. He got up, bruised, beaten, and in incredible pain, but free.

-

"YOU JUST TURNED A BLIND EYE AND LET THEM LEAVE!?"

"No, of course not! ...I actively helped them leave."

MePhone stared at The Floor, speechless. "I‐ Wh-... EVERY TIME I HIRE SOMEONE–" MePhone threw his hands in the air and stormed back into his cabin, fuming. He was only gone for a few moments, however, before he returned. "Alright, let's go before they get themselves killed," MePhone grumbled.

-

Test Tube carefully removed the rest of Bot's fabric covering, revealing the skeleton of metal and plastic underneath. She gestured for Bot to turn around, which they did, and placed a Meeple logo sticker on their back.

"There!" Test Tube turned Bot back around. "It's the perfect disguise! Now, if anyone asks who you are, what do you say?"

"I'm MeBot Prototype, personal robot assistant," Bot replied, putting on a fake digital voice.

"Very good!" Test Tube praised, and Bot broke character to smile back at her. Their smile immediately dropped as Test Tube handed them a knife. "Just in case anything happens," She explained.

"Thanks, Mom... I guess." Bot tucked the knife under the plastic shell of their body to hide it. They leaned in to receive a quick kiss on the forehead before running off to go find the nearest unlocked entrance into Meeple Headquarters while Test Tube retreated to the edge of MeCloud where the other season 3 contestants were hiding, waiting for Bot's signal.

Chapter Text

Toilet carefully picked apart the crushed remains of what was once his laptop, praying to whatever higher being there was that the SIM card was still whole. Cobs could straight to Hell for the way he treated his creations for all Toilet cared. MePad was imprisoned somewhere, 3GS was smashed and tossed in the trash, and Mec was God knows where...

Toilet let out a sigh of relief as he found the SIM card with nothing more than a few scratches on it. 3GS was still 'alive.'

-

"Lift me higher! I can almost, like, reach it!"

"That's what we're trying to do!"

"Try harder!"

"Oh, my bad. Let me just grow a few feet taller!"

MePad stood back, watching the residents with concern. Cheesy stood on the bottom of the stack, straining to keep everyone else up. Trophy stood on top of Cheesy's head, holding Tissues who was in turn helping Knife keep his balance. Knife held up Bomb, and Bomb held up Salt who was attempting to hit the device on the ceiling with the piece of plastic tubing from before.

"Guys, this doesn't seem safe, guys!"

"I agree with Tissues. Perhaps you all should come down and try something else?" MePad suggested.

"No, no, I've almost got it!" Salt harshly jabbed at the device, cause the stack to sway backwards. MePad's eyes widened, and he rushed forward to push the stack forward. The stack swayed in the other direction, and Salt managed to get close enough to jam the tubing into the device before she lost her footing and fell. Before she could hit the ground, however, there was a flash of light and they were all standing safely on the floor on the other side of the cell bars.

-

Bot wandered through the halls of Meeple Headquarters, doing their best to act as casual as possible. Despite the empty expression on their face, they were actively looking over every inch of the building for some sign of their friends.

Bot turned down another hall and began to hear soft sobbing. Was it one of the hotel residents? They sped up their pace. 

Chapter Text

Shards of glass and calcium shell flew through the air like shrapnel. Light lasers blasted, slicing through the oncoming waves of devices, as energy fields went up to hold off attacks from above.

A well aimed attack tore through a weak spot in the shield, and Light Shimmer warriors came pouring out to defend the breach. MePhones ran forward to meet them, both sides slashing, stabbing, and bludgeoning with electrically charged weapons.

The battle had begun.

-

Bot carefully picked their way through the empty Meeple Care facility and made their way over to the closet where the crying was coming from. Now that they were closer, they could tell that whoever was on the other side was not one of the hotel residents, the crying sounded too mechanical. Despite that, Bot grabbed the doorknob. If there was someone who needed help in there, surely they should help them, right? Then again, whoever was in there might alert security...

What would Test Tube do? She would probably leave the door closed, Bot figured. No use risking the mission when there were plenty of other people who needed help. Test Tube was right a lot of the time, so maybe continuing on without opening the door was the right choice. Bot turned to leave, but hesitated.

Test Tube would approve of that choice, but she's also been wrong before, especially when it comes to people. What about Fan? What would Fan do? He was just as much of a parent to Bot as Test Tube was. Bot hadn't been able to spend much time with him before his elimination, but they had heard stories. Fan wouldn't leave someone behind, especially someone in pain or distress. Fan would open that door.

Bot opened the door.

"Hello?"

The sobbing stopped. "H-hello?"

Due to their robotic nature, Bot's eyes immediately adjusted to the darkness of the closet. In the middle of the floor sat a little CRT monitor. He looked nervous.

"Hey there, lil' guy. I'm not going to hurt you," Bot spoke softly. "Why are you in here?"

The monitor blinked, looking a bit relieved to hear that Bot wasn't going to hurt him. "I disobeyed Cobs, and he put me in here as a punishment."

"Oh no! Well, I'll get you out of here, don't worry." Bot carefully scooped up the monitor and carried him out of the closet. "I'm here looking for my friends."

"You’re friends? Are they from Hotel OJ?"

"Yes! Do you know them?"

"I do, I was working with them. My name is Mecintosh, and you must be Bot. Fan is your father, right?"

Bot nodded and set Mec down on one of the Meeple Care beds. "Do you know where they are now?"

Mec looked down. "No. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, we can find them together." Bot offered Mec a reassuring smile. Bot pulled the knife Test Tube gave them out of their plastic shell and taped it to the top of Mec with a roll of nearby tape. "There! Now nobody can put you back in the closet."

Mec smiled back. "I can commit so many crimes now," he joked.

"Be gay, do crime."

"...What?"

"Nevermind, let's go find our friends."

Chapter Text

"It's been an hour and there's still no sign of them. Do you think something's happened to them?" Test Tube worried.

"It's a big building, they're probably just–" Cabby tried to offer an alternative reason, but was cut off.

"What was I thinking!? I can't believe I just let them walk in there, what kind of mother am I!? I have to go in after them." Test Tube got up.

"Woah, hey, just wait a second! If you're going in, then I'll come with you. You'll need backup if something has gone wrong," Cabby said.

"I'll come, too!" Goo said.

"Us as well," Balloon said, wrapping an arm around Nickel. Nickel didn't protest being volunteered.

"I would also like to go."

"Me, too!"

"We can't all go, some of us need to stay here and keep watch by the jet," Cabby said. "Goo, I know Bot is your best friend, but you can't move very fast." Test Tube shot Cabby a look, and she quickly amended her statement. "And I mean that in the nicest way possible, of course!"

"No, you're right," Goo said. "I would only slow us down. I'm like osmium, you know? I can't do a lot of things, and I'm very difficult to move... but I'm really good at the few things I can do!"

"...I'm sorry, I don't think I follow."

"I'm okay with standing guard."

"Oh, good! Balloon, would you mind staying as well? You–"

"I know," Balloon waved it off. "I don't want to pop either."

"I'll stay here too, then," Nickel said.

"No, Nickel. You have to go for both of us." Balloon smiled and gave two thumbs up. Nickel opened his mouth to argue, but closed it and nodded instead. He looked over at Tea Kettle.

"I'll stay," Tea Kettle said.

"I'll also keep guard," Blueberry said. Cabby rolled her eyes.

"Thank you for your sacrifice, Blueberry. Everyone else will come with us." Cabby turned back to Test Tube. "Ready?"

"I was born ready."

Chapter Text

Because he was unfamiliar with the layout of the warehouse, MePad was unable to teleport to the other hotel residents. Fortunately, the warehouse was not heavily guarded, and it was relatively easy to find where everyone was being held. Since he could see both the inside and outside of the cells, MePad was able to teleport the residents around the barriers, no keys needed. Unfortunately, they weren't as lucky when it came to the outside of the warehouse.

From the warehouse window, MePad watched as troop after troop of Meeple devices filed out of the headquarters building and lined up on the back courtyard. They were numbered off and sent to a cluster of silo-shaped buildings. After a few moments, the tops of the building rolled back and each building launched a single space shuttle. More devices filed into the buildings, and it was obvious that more shuttles were to be launched.

"They’re sending backup," Fan said. "Which is bad for obvious reasons, but also kind of good because that means that the Light Shimmers are doing a good job holding them off! But also, we should probably hurry up, because I don't know how strong their military is."

"It looks like this entire area is walled off," OJ said, "so the only way out is back through the main building..."

"We'll need a distraction if we hope to get past all of those guards," Paintbrush said, crossing their arms.

Everyone fell quiet for a moment before Lightbulb raised her hand. "I'll do it. I'll run out and cause a commotion, and when they all turn to chase me, you guys can sneak over to the main building."

"What?! No! Lightbulb, you are NOT going out there to taunt the HEAVILY ARMED guards!"

"Why not?"

"BECAUSE YOU'LL DIE!"

"Only if they hit me. Does anyone else have a better idea?"

A few of the residents looked around for something, anything, that could be used to distract the guards, but there was nothing.

"That's what I thought." Lightbulb turned back to Paintbrush and smiled. "Trust me on this one. I can do this. And if worst comes to worst, my information is still in the MeLife app. I'll be okay."

"But–"

"I know, but we don't have the time. I'll see you later." Lightbulb shot Paintbrush a pair of finger guns and a wink before running out into the courtyard, screaming like a madman. It was certainly one heck of a distraction as every device in the yard was immediately on high alert, drawing their weapons and chasing her. Lightbulb sprinted off to the far side of the courtyard with the devices following her. Once the coast was clear, the hotel residents quickly made their way over to the building entrance and got inside.

The residents started off down the hall, but Paintbrush lingered at the door. Fan paused and went back to place a hand on their shoulder. "She'll be okay. Bright Light gals are the toughest there are!"

Paintbrush managed to crack a smile. "They sure are..." Their demeanor harded. "We have a job to do, let's go."

Chapter Text

"It'll be easier to avoid attention if we split up. MePad's going to go find Toilet. The rest of us will split into 4 groups and each go down a different wing of the building. According to this map, there should be an exit at the end of each wing. MePad's already alerted Open Doors, so they'll be there to pick us up. Any questions?"

The hotel residents stood in a utility closet, packed together like sardines as the looked over the map that OJ had found. A set of 4 walkie-talkies had been found in the closet and passed out to unofficial leaders of each group.

"Actually, I have a question about–"

"Great let's go."

OJ gathered up his group, which consisted of him, Cheesy, Bomb, Cherries, and, of course, Paper, and headed north. Baseball took Suitcase, Soap, and Microphone south, Knife, Pickle, Trophy, and Tissues went west, and Paintbrush led Fan, Salt, and Pepper down to the south wing. Salt seemed quite upset that OJ hadn't picked her to be in his group, but everyone else couldn't care less about that.

While everyone else headed to the outside, MePad headed towards the center of Meeple Headquarters, hoping to find out where Toilet was being held.

-

"Take a left... Take another left... Go straight..." Mecintosh read off the directions from his programming to Bot. A few times, they had run into a dead end or an unexpected hallway due to Mec's internal map being rather outdated, but they were making fairly good progress. "Left... Ri–OH!"

Bot smacked into someone and had to quickly move Mec out of the way to avoid stabbing whoever it was. Bot saw a blur of brown as the person jumped in surprise. "Wha– Bot?" Bot recognized that voice immediately.

"Paintbrush! We're here to rescue you!" Bot gently set Mec down. "Although, I didn't expect you to be walking around freely. Did you escape? Do you know where everyone else is being kept?"

At that moment, the rest of Paintbrush's group turned the corner. Fan froze, immediately recognizing the carbon alloy skeleton that he had seen so many times in Test Tube's lab. Bot gave him a shy smile. Fan rubbed his eyes and blinked at Bot before rushing forward, stopping suddenly in front of them with his arms held sort of raised like he wanted to go in for a hug but wasn't sure if that was the right move. Bot closed the gap for him, wrapping their arms around him.

"Hi, Dad. I'm so happy to see you again..." Bot's voice was soft.

Fan gently wrapped his own arms around Bot. "I'm so happy to meet you..." He pulled back. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you! Mom's waiting outside, where's everyone else?"

"We split up," Paintbrush said, reentering the conversation. "They’re heading to the other exits to get picked up by Open Doors. You can come with us. What side of the building is Test Tube waiting at?"

"North, I think. She's with everyone else from Paradise Island."

Paintbrush nodded and pulled out their walkie-talkie. "Hey, OJ. The season 3 contestants are waiting at the north side. When you get there, tell them that Bot's with us, over."

OJ's voice came back through the walkie-talkie. "We're almost outside, over." There was a long pause before the walkie-talkie came back on. "Only 4 of them are out here, apparently the rest went inside. I can go back and look for them if you'd like, over."

"No, uh, you get those 4 off the cloud, we'll find the others, over."

"Got it, over."

Paintbrush and Fan exchanged worried looks.

-

Toilet made his way through the hallways, moving quickly towards Cobs' office. He knew that's where Cobs would be, letting others deal with the actual fighting while he pulled the strings from a safe distance.

There was a surprising lack of guards inside the building, most having been repurposed as soldiers to be sent out into battle. Toilet soon found himself in front of the doors where all of this had started. The doors opened immediately. Cobs was waiting for him.

-

The sound of laser blasts fill the air as Meeple devices fired round after round at the armored Open Doors ships on the north side of Meeple Headquarters. They were small ships, designed to transport people to and from a larger ship, but their size didn't make them any easier to destroy.

There was lull in blasts and the Meeple devices reloaded their weapons, and OJ took the chance to get his group onto the safety of the ship.

"GO, GO, GO!" OJ shouted. Tea Kettle scooped up Goo and they all took off running, even Blueberry, with OJ staying near the back to make sure nobody fell behind. Clicks echoed across the cloud as the devices' guns powered back on and OJ shouted at everyone to hurry. They just made it to the safety of the ship when the first laser was shot.

"OJ!"

Chapter Text

"It's empty in here... too empty," Test Tube said.

"I know, it's eerie," Cabby replied.

"You don't think they have an ambush or something planned, do you?" Nickel asked. Their conversation was cut off by a shout from behind them.

"TUBE! I knew Baxter would make it!"

They all turned around to see Lightbulb jogging towards them.

"Lightbulb! You're oka–WOAH!" Test Tube was cut off by Lightbulb embracing her with a bear hug. Test Tube spoke again once she was released. "Where's everyone else?"

"Oh, I don't know. They're probably around here somewhere. I was outside getting shot at."

"What!? Why?"

"I was distracting the guards so that everyone could escape, but they were on my tail for a while. I only just lost them. It's okay, though. We can look together!" Lightbulb said, throwing an arm around Test Tube's shoulders. She turned to look at Cabby who was standing right next to Test Tube and held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Lightbulb!"

"Oh! Cabby." Cabby nervously took her hand and shook it. "Um, I believe this is your's," She said, pulling out Baxter.

"Baxter! How's my baby boi doing? You'd better hold onto him, I've got nowhere to stash him right now."

"Of course," Cabby said, placing Baxter back in her drawer.

Silver Spoon stepped forward. "Silver Spoon. I'd shake your hand, but I don't want to touch you."

Lifering rolled his eyes and reached forward to shake Lightbulb's hand. "I'm Lifering, it's great to meet you!"

Lightbulb smiled. "It's nice to meet you all! So, we're heading this way?"

-

"You said he's been SHOT?" MePhone asked as he was led through Open Doors main ship, which hovered outside the range of Meeple weapons.

"Unfortunately, yes, but we have him in stable condition," the Open Doors employee said. They entered the main chamber of the ship where 3 of the 4 groups of residents were gathered. They looked up as MePhone entered, looking like children who were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

MePhone paused, not expecting to see so many of his former contestants all in one place. Was he angry that they were here? Was he relieved to see that the majority of them were unharmed? He didn't know. Floory was the one to break the silence.

"We're not made, we're just disappointed," he said, and few contestants looked genuinely saddened by that.

"What were you all thinking, getting mixed up with Meeple?" MePhone finally said. "Do you have a death wish? ...Don't answer that."

"We had to," Paper spoke up. "Helping Toilet and the Light Shimmers was the right thing to do." There were nods and murmurs of agreement.

MePhone breathed out harshly and rolled his eyes. "Where's everyone else? Where's MePad?"

"Still inside. MePad went to go find Toilet," Baseball said.

MePhone groaned. "Of course he did."

"Would you like us to drop you down there?" the employee asked.

"It's not like I have much of a choice."

-

Paintbrush, Fan, Bot, and Mec were headed back towards the central hub of Meeple Headquarters. Salt and Pepper had continued on to the outside in order to tell the others that they were okay. The halls were eerily silent, and no one dared to speak.

Suddenly, the silence was shattered by a voice from further ahead. It was a bit muffled due to the source being around a corner, but it was undoubtedly...

"Lightbulb!"

The voice immediately fell quiet and was replaced with quick footsteps as Lightbulb turned the corner. "I found them!" she said.

"No! Really?" Nickel snarked, the rest of the group turning the corner as well. Lightbulb ignored him and rushed forward to embrace Paintbrush, Test Tube not far behind to embrace her family.

"You’re okay!" Paintbrush exclaimed.

"I told you I would be! Didn't you believe me?" Lightbulb said.

Test Tube held Bot and Fan close for a few moments before breaking away. "Who's this?" She asked, noticing Mec sitting nearby with a knife taped to his head.

"This is Mecintosh, and he's my friend!"

"He’s working with Toilet," Fan explained.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Mec said. "Fan told me a lot about you back at the hotel."

"We don't need to get into that," Fan said quickly. "Let’s get out of here, the ship is waiting."

"No," Mec said. "I'm not leaving without Toilet and 3GS."

"It's not safe–" Paintbrush started to say, but Mec cut them off.

"I said what I said. I'm not leaving without them."

"Well, you can't leave here without us."

"Not necessarily," Test Tube cut in. "You guys get going, I'll be there in a moment."

"Are you sure?" Fan asked.

Test Tube nodded. She and Fan shared a quick kiss before Fan took Bot's hand, ready to lead them back outside.

"I trust you. Don’t be too long."

"I won't."

Chapter Text

Toilet dodged laser blast after laser blast as Steve Cobs fired at him from a loft in the rafters. Toilet ducked behind a pillar to catch his breath for a second.

"Man, I am getting old," He mumbled as he searched for a weapon.

"Get back out here and face me!" Cobs shouted. Toilet could hear the sound of his footsteps as he descended the stairs. Toilet grabbed an old computer monitor just as Cobs rounded the corner, and bashed it into Cobs' hand, knocking the blaster to the side. They tussled for a bit, both trying to be the first to get to the blaster.

"Give up, you can't win! The Light Shimmers are already mine!" Cobs shouted, breaking his hand out of Toilet's grip to punch him in the face.

"Nevah! I won't let you hurt the Light Shimmahs, and I won't let you hurt my friends!" Toilet pushed his weight onto Cobs, knocking them both to the floor. However, Cobs was strong, and he managed to push Toilet off and pin him to the floor with his hand wrapped around the spy's neck.

"That's not something you have the ability to stop," Cobs growled.

"Maybe... not me... but... Eights already sent... backup," Toilet struggled to say. Cobs gasped in surprise and loosened his grip, which allowed Toilet to wiggle out of his gasp. Toilet retreated a few steps away, gasping for breath.

Cobs turned around to see that the live recording of his attack of the Light Shimmers that he had been watching now showed a much different scene. The sky was filled with Open Doors ships firing down at the invading forces. The Light Shimmers had regained the upper hand and repaired their energy shield, and they were chasing the now retreating Meeple forces back into their ships.

Cobs rushed over to his monitor system and clicked through his security cameras. The holding cells were empty, and Meeple cloud was surrounded by another fleet of Open Doors ships.

"No... No, no, no! This isn't supposed to be happening!" Cobs looked around panicked before his eyes locked onto Toilet, narrowing in rage. "YOU!"

Cobs ripped a sharp piece of metal off of the control panel and rushed at Toilet, lunging towards him. Stuck cornered against the wall, Toilet braced for the attack,but it never came. He cracked open an eye.

Standing defensively in front of Toilet was MePad, a shard of metal now buried in the lower part of his screen. Cobs yanked the makeshift weapon back out, and MePad stumbled from the pain. Before regaining his balance.

"MePad! What are you still doing here!?"

"Looking for you," MePad said, his usually monotonous, calm tone tinged with pain.

Mecintosh slide into the room as well, sporting a new set of four wheels, knife still taped to his head. Cobs looked between the 3 of them before grabbing the memory card from his computer system and running out.

Chapter Text

Mecintosh was the first to give chase, zooming out of the room at top speed. MePad hobbled out, supported by Toilet, and followed not far behind.

"Mec, hold up!" Toilet called as he helped MePad sit down against the wall.

"But Cobs is getting away!" Mec protested.

"I know, but MePad's hurt. Don't worry, Cobs can't get very fah."

Mec reluctantly turned around and rolled back to Toilet's side. He watched as Toilet careful removed loose bits of glass from MePad's wound. Black liquid crystal slowly oozed from the opening. Toilet got up and grabbed a roll of duct tape from a nearby utility cart. He gently applied the tape over MePad's damaged screen as a makeshift bandage.

"That should hold fah now. How do you feel?"

"I will be alright," MePad said, he voice having returned to it's normal calm tone. Toilet nodded.

"What happened!?" Toilet looked up to see MePhone4 sprinting towards them. He stop beside MePad and knelt down before giving Toilet a suspicious look.

"It was Cobs," MePad said quickly, drawing MePhone's attention away from Toilet. "Cobs is the one who hurt me. Toilet was just patching my screen." MePad moved to get up, but MePhone gently pushed him back down.

"You should get him out of here. He needs repahs," Toilet said.

"No, I'm okay. I can keep going," MePad said.

"No, you're not," MePhone said. "I'm taking you home. Toilet can take care of everything here." MePhone looked back at Toilet. He paused before nodding at him. "You better get going."

"Of course," Toilet said. "Mec! Let's go!"

Mec zoomed off in the direction that Cobs had gone, Toilet close behind. Toilet paused to look back as MePhone helped MePad to his feet. Toilet and MePad made eye contact for a second before Toilet turned back to follow Mec.

Chapter Text

Mec and Toilet followed Cobs down the hall. Being in his late 60s, Cobs wasn't the fastest man alive, so it had been easy for a newly repaired machine and a trained secret agent regardless of age to catch up to him. In an attempt to lose them, Cobs took a sharp turn into the nearest card-locked room, the scrap shop, and set the door to lock behind him. This was where outdated or damaged machines were taken to be stripped of parts and broken down if they weren't put in storage. This was were the majority of Meeple products resided, powered down and awaiting death.

As the metal doors began to close, Mec sped up, slipping through the crack right as the doors closed and locked. He found himself on a platform overlooking the scrap shop, a staircase to his left. The scrap shop was dimly illuminated by a few old overhead lights and the furnace burning below. Cobs stood by the railing, armed with his makeshift weapon.

Mec narrowed his eyes and charged forward. Cobs lunged to stab the metal shard through Mec, but Mec swerved dodging the attack and coming in towards Cobs from the other direction. He slammed into Cobs' leg with all of the force he could muster, plunging the knife taped to his head into the side of the man's leg. Cobs screamed and dropped his weapon.

With Cobs off balance, Mec slammed into him again, pushing him over the railing and into the scrap shop below. Mec rolled over to the edge of the platform and looked down.

Cobs slowly got up from the ground, injured but not dead. He looked back at Mec with pure fury in his eyes. He ripped off the arm of one of the powered down devices to use as a weapon and began limping his way over to the stairs, knowing that Mec couldn't reach the doors' locking panel and had no means of escape. In his rage, he didn't notice the devices coming awake around him as he stepped over them.

An arm reached out of pile of scraps and grabbed Cobs' leg. He tried to shake it off, but the arm held tight, preventing him from moving. Another arm emerged to grab him, followed by another and another. broken machines began pulling themselves from the pile of mechanical corpses.

With missing limbs and shattered screens, covered in leaking liquid crystal and crumbly battery lithium, Cobs creations crawled towards him. He tried to fight them off, hitting them with the dismembered arm, but they kept coming. The devices began tearing at Cobs, ripping his kernels out as he screamed in pain, blood and corn juice spewing across the room. Mec watched the gruesome scene coldly. Cobs' screams faded to nothing.

Chapter Text

'ALL SOLDIERS, RETURN TO BASE. ALL SOLDIERS, RETURN TO BASE.'

The order flashed across the screens of every Meeple soldier as they loaded back onto their ships to return to Earth, Open Doors and the Light Shimmers watching and cheering. It had been a tough battle and there had been many losses on all sides, but they had won. The Light Shimmers were finally free from Cobs once and for all.

-

Toilet watched as the Meeple soldiers file back into headquarters and power down at their charging ports, Mecintosh resting on the floor by his side. "What should we do about all of them?"

"They're not fully sentient like you and I are," Mec explained. "They have no minds of their own, they just follow whatever orders are put into the main computer. It would be for the best to just let them stay powered down."

"...Are you shuh?"

"...Yes. Unplug the computers."

Toilet nodded and disconnected the main computer, shutting off the entire Meeple system. He picked up 3GS' memory card from where he had set it down and went back over to Mec. "Ready to go back to the hotel?"

"Yes. Where will you be going?"

"Too many people know who I am now, I can't keep doing this job. I have a good retiahment plan though, a nice little house back in London. A little earliah than I expected, but that's life."

"Retiring? You deserve it. How old are you now, 93? 94?"

"I'm 65!"

"Oh! Well... moving on."

"No actually, I don't think we can move on from this. We ah going to talk about this on the way home, in fact."

"Darn."