No Escape from Ultra Deluxe

The Bottom of It All

You make it all the way up to the boss's office when a familiar figurine catches your eye and you walk up to it.

"You found one of them! One of the miniature Stanley figurines. Remember, no reward for collecting all of these. Only the intrinsic pleasure of a job well done. You can't buy that sort of happiness, (Y/N). God knows I've tried. So, I implore you to savor each and every moment you come across one of these beautiful figurines."

It's in that moment you know you will be finding all of these figurines. You continue on your way with your bucket all the way up to the mind control facility. You walk up to the buttons.

"When at last they found the source of the room's power (Y/N) and the bucket knew it was their obligation, to put an end to this horrible place and to everything it stood for." The Narrator says.

You go to press the off button when you hear a faint whisper, a voice that isn't The Narrator's "Turn it on." A chill goes up your spine and you frantically look around the room, clutching The Bucket close. You look down to check on The Bucket, you felt something click in your head. The Bucket had told you turn the machine on.

Flashes of explosions, pain, and desperation filled your mind. For a moment you feel betrayed by the bucket, but the longer you looked at it the more you felt compelled to listen. You look back at the controls and turn them on.

"But at the last second, The Bucket jumped in and pressed the button to turn on the controls! (Y/N) gasped in horror. Had this been The Bucket's plan all along, to take over the machine and claim the power for itself? How could the bucket have betrayed them like this?"

As The Narrator spoke you felt a million miles away. You stared at the screen waiting for that familiar timer to appear. For a second you consider tossing The Bucket away.

"(Y/N) was prepared to throw the bucket away in disgust when suddenly an image appeared upon the enormous screen."

The Narrator's words shocked back to reality, you stepped back, feeling your arms tremble. You shut your eyes and opened them slowly. There was no menacing timer, or angry narrator just a video of bird up on the monitor.

"Birds. Silly... silly birds. The control buttons became active again." The Narrator says and on cue the buttons turned on, showing arrows. You flip through videos and smile.

"(Y/N) flipped through one video of silly birds after another. And then it dawned on them. This wasn't a mind control facility at all. It was a facility for monitoring and surveilling silly birds all over the world! The mind controls were only a facade to disguise its true intentions. Had the bucket known this all along? (Y/N) marveled at the metal genius in their hands. The one who had pointed them toward this incredible discovery. (Y/N) and the bucket never found freedom, because they spent the rest of their lives here in this place flipping through livestreams of the silliest birds imaginable. Of all the possible paths their life could have taken, this one was surely the best. And (Y/N) was happy."

And you were, as you flipped through the screens looking at all the silly birds. You felt content. The Bucket didn't seem to feel this way though, an angry energy seemed to radiate off of it if that was possible. You chose to ignore this feeling, the bucket isn't alive after all. You just let yourself feel happy until the game restarts again. You blink, you're back at you desk.

"You know that ending was actually meant to end much earlier but I thought I'd let you enjoy that. In my opinion that's much nicer than the ending that was there before. Don't you agree (Y/N)?"

"100 percent Narrator. Though I think anything beats that ending in how horrible it was." You tell him.

"Yes, I suppose. Onward (Y/N)! We have more endings to see!"