Max and Gnome 4: The Facility

Chapter 2

Gnome was in the dark. It was really dark. There were no lights in the huge steel shipping container. He was still wrapped up in the net and couldn't even see how to free himself.
"This sucks," thought Gnome. He didn't think any other thoughts for a while. It was dark and sad and Gnome didn't even have his favorite drink.
He heard sounds. Whispering.
"I'll get him, don't worry," said a gruff voice. Hands started tearing at the fragile net. "It's a weak one, too," it continued, laughing a little.
"No!" said Gnome, getting kind of mad. He struggled and got closer to escaping. Gnome's eyes adjusted. He could make out a one-foot-tall action figure in front of him saving him from the net. Gnome jumped out and got on his feet.
"Hey," said Gnome.
"Hello," said the action figure.
"What's your name?" asked Gnome.
"Soldier," said Soldier stoically.
Gnome laughed a little, still not realizing his name was also simple.
"These are my friends Strongman and Bot" he announced, waving to the ragtag group of toys standing in the cramped container, the rest of which was filled up with wooden furniture. Soldier had 1980s forest camouflage, a rifle and a pistol. Strongman had giant muscles and a macho beard and was very flexible. Bot was a little square treaded robot made of silver. He didn't really have anything.
"GREETONGS," said Bot.
"Hello," waved Gnome.
Everyone was silent for a while.
"So, umm, how is everyone doing?" asked Gnome, the resident extrovert.
"Alright," said Soldier. "We all just got thrown on this hunk-a-metal. It's gonna start wobbling back and forth too..." he frowned.
"I'm ok," said Strongman.
"I AM EXIST," said Bot.
"Bot's got some screws in his head loose or something," explained Soldier.
"Says you," mumbled Strongman.
"Yeah... they just captured me and threw me in here," said Gnome. "So does anyone know what's going to happen?"
The others thought about it. They heard the grating sounds of containers being moved or the loading ramp retracting. The giant boat horn blared.
"Looks like we're headed off," said Soldier quietly. The boat started swaying in the waves. Gnome had to work harder to stay upright.
"How long do you think we're gonna be on this thing?" asked Gnome. "Five minutes?"
Soldier looked despondent.
"I don't know, but they don't take these huge ships on little swims around the pond."
"It'll be a while," said Strongman, who was sitting down sadly, with his knees in front of his face.
"TIME QUERY. 3:45PM" announced Bot.
The boat kept rocking up and down in the waves. They could only see anything because of tiny cracks between the doors and the container walls.
"So..." said Gnome.
"How exactly did you all get here?" asked Soldier.
"Well I was doing some amazing investing work trying to find the ATS in the port city—" said Gnome.
"You mean investigating," corrected Soldier.
"INCORRECT. CITY NAME: COAST TOWN," corrected Bot.
"Hm. So then my friend got captured in a net, and I saved him," continued Gnome, punching the air. "Then he GOT ME!"
"Interesting," mumbled Strongman, frowning. "I... well I was always forced to wrestle." He closed his eyes. "It was horrible. Then one day my family got rid of me and next thing I knew, some strange truck picked me up and took me here."
"I AM HERE NOW," said Bot.
Soldier shook his head. "Well, I saw them take some of my comrades. I tried to save them but failed and they took me hostage as well."
"Sounds like me," bragged Gnome with a swagger. Gnome decided he was done with talking. He started climbing on the boxed furniture that filled the container. He walked up the underside of a couch and jumped on top of a chair above it. He was soon close to the roof.
"IT'S COOL UP HERE!" yelled Gnome.
The others looked up at him without too much interest. The boat hit a particularly large wave and Gnome fell off the top box.
"Whew!" he said, landing on the couch. Gnome jumped around all the strangely stacked boxes and Bot drove quickly around in circles. Gnome started singing his favorite song, annoying Soldier.
"Stop it! It's too loud!" yelled Soldier.
Nothing happened. Soldier jumped on top of Bot, slowing it down.
"MOVEMENT INERTIA DETECTED," repeated Bot, spinning its tracks fruitlessly.
"QUIET!" yelled Soldier. Bot stopped but Gnome was still belting out a song.
"YEAH I WAS THERE BEFORE THE TREES!" sang Gnome. Soldier jumped on top of a box and chased after Gnome, who hid in the crevice between two chairs and became silent. Soldier couldn't find him.
"This is gonna be a long journey," said Strongman.