Chapter Text
Zoeya
You jumped up in a cold sweat.
You’d just been asleep in the bed your mushroom comrades had provided for you. (Ech... still trying to find a way out of this.) Your thoughts spiraled in a drowsy blur as you grabbed onto one, then the other, and pieced together that everything as alright, but also something was very wrong. You weren’t sure what that meant, exactly, but you just... felt wrong . Like there was someone in the corner of your room, waiting to take you out. Upon examination, though, this was not the case.
Speaking of your room and examination, you alighted from your bed and over to the mesh of vines covering your secret lair. You pushed the curtain of plants aside, revealing your stash of contraband technology and connection to the Mushnet. Immediately the monitor in the center of the pile of machines caught your attention. White text on a black background read:
Rythian oh my gosh can you see this?
I’m stuck with a bunch of mushrooms and things have gone crazytown bananapants!
Rythian?
Are you there?
You attempted to scroll down the dialogue and reveal a response. Nothing.
Gosh darn it! You swore you would’ve gotten to him sooner if it weren’t for Teep. He’d made complications by blowing up part of the Rebel Leader’s meeting room on accident, and you were held responsible.
Oh, you shouldn’t blame Teep. He did as he did.
This didn’t put any of your worries to rest. Rythian still hadn’t responded. You figured by now maybe he’d at least have looked back in that lab of yours by now... Right? Oh, gosh, what if he hadn’t? What if something was wrong?
You had to get out of here. But how? You were under a watchful eye almost all the time, aside from your room. Maybe if you could convince the Rebel Leader...
Gah, but that would take so long ! You noticed vaguely you were biting your nails, and quickly shoved them in your pockets. Something was very wrong, and that was for certain. You couldn’t quite place exactly what it was, but it made the hair on the back of your neck stand up and your feet try to tap-dance. Speaking of that, it was making a bit of noise. Shoosh, foot.
Well, you’d managed to make yourself a secret lair... Maybe if you made some extensions... A tunnel heading to the surface, perhaps. But how to make it past perimeter surveillance?
You would need to get the trust of someone on the inside. A spy, perchance. But almost everyone was loyal to the Rebel Leader...
Well, what have we here?
Oh, crap! You swiveled around to find a single mushroom had taken it upon themself to invade into your little lair. Darn it, foot! If only you hadn’t made any noise!
“L- listen, this isn’t what it looks like! Okay, um, it might be a bit what it looks like- erm-”
Hey, chill. I’m not here to rat you out, the mushroom drawled. I see you’ve got some equipment. Equipment you haven’t told the Leader about. I think we have a common interest.
“Wait, what?” you asked.
Y’see, they continued, the Leader doesn’t really hold our best interests at heart. I’ve seen it; guy only really cares about power. I ain’t about that life. I need to get out. If you could provide the means, I could get you a clear path outta here. It’ll be like we vanished into thin air.
That sounded like exactly what you’d been looking for! “Oh, yes, that sounds fantastic!” But just a moment. “Erm, what exactly do I have to do for this? You’re not gonna, like, make me kill the Rebel Leader, are you?” You didn’t want to be forced into an agreement you couldn’t uphold.
No, no, not at all, they assured you. I just need to use your coms. See, I got some friends on the outside that I meant to catch up to, but I’m in too deep now. I got no idea where they are, and if I can’t find ‘em, I’m done for!
“Oh, that makes sense! Sure, I can totally help you!” you agreed.
Good, it’s settled. They turned to leave, then glanced back. By the way, name’s Cam.
“Nice to meet you Cam!” What a nice name. “I’ll meet up with you here tomorrow, yeah?”
Yeah, they said, seeming to you quite grateful, and left.
Well, now you had your spy. Turning back to the monitor though, you sighed. You didn’t have your friend. And something told you it was him that was in the center of whatever was going wrong.
You just hoped he didn’t get hurt.