The Arrow of Time

Countdown

Fortunately, he was awake enough to get up and out of the mech. He looked around at the expressions of those around him, some angry, some shocked, some disappointed. Most were a combination of more than one. He pulled his cap off and held it to his chest. "I see you found me out."

With his mask broken, Meta Knight could no longer hide the intense emotion on his face. "What is the meaning of this?"

He put his cap back on and stood a fair distance away from the rest. "I'm the OSO. I assisted in bringing you all here, I impersonated Bandee, I put everyone into cold sleep, I threatened Magolor into helping me, I got him to trick Bandee into acting suspicious, and I was the one he betrayed and put into cold sleep. That's what it means."

Elfilin was just bewildered. "But... WHY? Why would you do any of this? What's the point?"

"We can worry about that later. More importantly..."

A voice began to emanate from the inside of the mech. "𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙚? 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙜, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚... 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨? 𝙒𝙞𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚? 𝙔𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚. 𝙐𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝. 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮."

Everyone stared at the mech, with nothing more to say. There were no words any of them could summon to respond to what they'd just heard. Elfilin spoke first. "Okay... we can do something... this isn't the end... we can get out of this, we just need to calm down. Everyone calm down. Just relax. Why is no one relaxing? Stop freaking out! JUST CALM DOWN-"

"Elfilin." Sailor Dee cut him off flatly. "There was a good suggestion in there. Would you all like to see the rest of them again?"

Bandee nodded. "So... we'll see them again, and then we'll all die? S-sounds fun."

As they activated the defrost function on the last pod, the timer ticked down. "Well, I don't want to ask first, so I'll explain now. Is there anything you all want to know in particular?" He was interrupted by Bandee removing their bandana, twisting it into a whip, and cracking him with it. "Everything it is. This might take all twenty minutes, so uh... sit down?"

He stood in front of the corkboard, gathered his thoughts, and began. "It was about a week before I brought Meta Knight to the elevator. The phone on the Halberd rang, and I picked it up. Before I even said anything, they knew it was me specifically who had answered. I'll call them the one outside, or the OOS. ...I realize that might be confusing, so I'll call them Scary Phone Guy instead. Scary Phone Guy gave me a place to meet them the following day at about three in the afternoon, and said there would be dire consequences if I didn't comply."