18:00

57 : Input

None of the subjects fought back when she came in. Mic stood up, walking to the door as she kneaded her hands. She glanced back, uncertainly looking down at the box on her chest. And soon enough, she was gone.

It wasn't uncommon at this point, however dark that was. Test Tube would come and go, and sometimes take someone in for a quick test or checkup. But this felt early- too early, really. Soap sighed, staring at the now shut door.

"They didn't even give us a day to settle in?" Lightbulb huffed, crossing her arms. She didn't seem too annoyed, but not happy either.

"Dunno, I don't think having to throw us in with you was part of her original plan." Knife pointed out, his gaze also settled on the closed door. "She probably just didn't take us into consideration."

"Right, yeah." Soap huffed, reluctantly agreeing. "Still, a break would've been nice."

"And you think she's taking her torture subject's feelings into consideration for this?" Knife retorted rather bitterly.

"Okay- yeah, I see what you mean."

"So," Trophy spoke up, "Now what? Do we just wait around until she comes back?"

"Sort of, yeah." Bow said, picking at the stitches in the blanket with her nails. "Not much else to do 'round here, aha..."

The silence afterwards was stale and rotten, lingering with words thought of but left unsaid. It wasn't like anybody needed to say anything though. Even Knife, the inexperienced one of the group, was well aware of the message.

He stared down the door like it might cave in if he tried hard enough. Nothing happened, but the gaze maintained that same bite. "So, is she gonna be okay?"

"Hm?" Soap looked up from her notebook, which she had almost immediately begun writing in. Despite her reassuring words, her tone was just as uneased as the rest of the room. "..Ah. I mean, I hope so. It's not like it's a huge danger, I mean, she brings us in for checkups pretty often."

"But we all just got checked-up." Lightbulb muttered, squinting at the door. She picked at the rough scars on her stomach, nails chipping away with each scratch.

"That doesn't mean she's gonna be, like, tortured or something though!" Bow said rather bluntly. "Maybe there was just a glitch in the system or whatever, and she needs to redo it?"

Knife just continued staring at the doors. As much as Soap wanted the group to remain in high spirits, that was awfully hard in these conditions. He appreciated her and Bow's efforts, but they really were for naught. He wanted to believe Mic would be safe, he really did.

But did anybody really think she would be?

-

Fetch O-6, bring to the testing room, set up, blah blah blah. Test Tube had ran through the steps so many times before, she barely thought about what she was doing as she collected her materials.

Mic sat awkwardly in her chair. As much as she wanted to argue, she knew there was nothing she could say. So she just sat there, waiting to see what was planned for her this time.

Whatever it was, she just hoped it wouldn't hurt too much.

"Alright," Test Tube announced as she finished collecting her supplies, "I need you to stay completely still for this next part, got it?"

"...Why?" Mic asked, finding herself backing up in her chair a little.

"You've been electrocuted on the show before, if I recall correctly. I'm sure you don't want to go through that again."