Janitors: The New Generation (Never To Be Finished)

"Just take a deep breath."

Teddy squeezed his eyes shut as he and Claire traveled through the garbage. Then, they were in a port-a-potty, but not just any port-a-potty, the one they would use to get to the underwater lab. Teddy gulped as he looked around the chain-linked fenced-in area the port-a-potty was enclosed in. He slowly started to close the door but stopped.
"I can't do this." Teddy murmured.
"No no, it's okay. I believe in you Teddy, you can do it." Claire said. Teddy smiled nervously and nodded. Gripping the handle, Teddy slowly began pulling it towards himself. Suddenly, Claire reached out and yanked it shut, making Teddy cry out in alarm. There was no going back now. Teddy sat on the toilet seat and Claire stuck out her tongue in disgust. Teddy smirked at her and then cast his gaze downward. After some time, Teddy began to pant and rock back and forth, holding his knees to his chest. Claire put a hand in his shoulder to calm him.
"Let's just put our masks on right now, how does that sound?" Claire said. Teddy nodded quickly and fidgeted with his janitorial belt, searching for a mask. At last his fingers gripped a strap and Teddy yanked it out. After putting it securely on over his mouth and nose, Teddy felt a lot better. Then the port-a-potty jolted to an agonizing stop.
"Is that it? Are we done? Are we here, at the lab?" Teddy kept spitting out questions, anxious nerves returning. Claire ureached out and gripped the handle.
"Claire . . ?" Teddy began, his voice fuzzy because of his mask.
"Brace yourself," Claire said through her mask, and pushed open the door. Water flooded into the small compartment. Teddy was gripped in fear as he thrust his arms out and pressed his palms against the sides of the port-a-potty, raising his chin above the water. He shut his eyes as the water enveloped his legs, followed by his torso, shockingly cold. He sucked in a breath as the water flooded over his head. Teddy opened his eyes and immediately felt the sting of salt, causing him to cry out in pain.
"How you doing Teddy?" Claire asked, concern thick in her voice.
"I'm cold, and my masked area is hot and hazy! My eyes are burning!" Teddy exclaimed. "I can't breath! I'm going to die!" he shrieked.
"Relax Teddy, it's not like you can take off your mask anyway." Claire said, kind of jokingly. Teddy glared at her.
"I can't do this Claire, I just can't do this. You'll have to go on without me. I'll sit in this port-a-potty." he said. Claire shook her head.
"I'm not going anywhere, Teddy. We need to do this for the sake of knowledge, together." Claire said. Teddy smiled weakly and nodded after some time and then let go of the walls of the toilet. He fished around for his toilet brush and pushed the button once he had found it. Immediately, Teddy flew out of the port-a-potty and into the BEM lab. Claire came zooming in after him. Teddy flipped off the button and looked around. Amazingly, a few lights still worked, while others were flashing and others were dead out. The first floor was blanketed in sand from the ocean floor.
"Wow," Claire said, stopping next to him. He nodded then laughed."What?" she asked defiantly.
"Your hair is what," Teddy said pointing. Her hair was floating around her like a thick web.
"Well, your hair is just the same," she fired back.
Teddy chuckled. "Yeah but my hair isn't as long as yours."
"Alright, let's just get to work." Claire said and turned her brush back on. Teddy followed suit. They moved through the water for some time then Claire noticed something.
"You see that?" she asked Teddy as she stopped. He stopped too and looked and gasped in shock. There was a vent of shooting water coming from a room with an open door. It was blasting water down a hallway at a frightening speed. "How does that work?" Claire asked.
"I don't know," Teddy said. He handed Claire his toilet brush. "Hold this." He then detached a plunger from his belt and began to swim over to the underwater river of water.
"You sure you don't want me to do it Teddy? Since your uh, you know . . ." She never finished her sentence. Despite his beating heart, Teddy refused. He swam on and stuck the plunger to the wall. Leaning closer, Teddy studied the force of water.
"I'm thinking its a Glopified fan, but how would that work? There's no electricity, and who would put it here? There's no one to put it here." Teddy looked back at Claire and then narrowed his eyes curiously as a Grime came swimming his way. But yet, it wasn't a Grime; it was half Grime half Rubbish. Grubbish. It had the body of a Grime and the features of a Rubbish. Claws were studded at the end of its bulbous fingers and it had leathery wings. Though it was going too fast through the water to be swimming at its own speed. In fact, it wasn't swimming at all. It was simply flying through the water, as if hit by some force as it flew past Claire.
"Teddy, look out!" Claire screamed. But it was too late. The Grubbish came flying too close to Teddy's mask and one of its claws caught onto the edge and tore it open. Teddy quickly sucked in a great breath as water flooded into his once masked area. Then his Glopified mask unhooked from his ears and floated after the Grubbish as they were swiftly caught in the underwater river. Teddy glanced at Claire, panicked.
"Your extra mask! Get your extra mask!" she exclaimed. Teddy nodded and dug in his pocket for the mask. Once found, he yanked it out of the pocket it was in. Right as he was about to put it on, a bulbous finger suctioned onto it and ripped it from Teddy's grasp. He glanced up nearly gasped. The thief was a Grime and human forged together. Teddy had been told about these; this was Sweeper. Teddy reached out for the mask's string desperately, but the Sweeper swiped it out of his grip.
"Not so fast boy," he said in a slimy voice. Teddy blinked and tried for the mask again. "Let's not delay the boss's orders. Come acceptingly and we won't hurt you. Well, not yet." he chuckled and then tossed away the mask into the raging river. Teddy lunged after the mask as it got caught in the current, letting go of the once-safe toilet plunger. The Sweeper groaned impatiently as Teddy glided past him as he was sucked into the raging underwater river after his his one chance at life.
Teddy flew through the water, tossing and turning through the water, trying time after time to grasp the mask but it never even came close to his fingers. His lungs were burning and he needed to get back to Claire. Then, when Teddy was close enough to reach the Glopified tool, the mask was whisked away into an open room. Teddy tried to grab it but he was swept past the doorway, out of reach. It had never occurred to Teddy to look where he was going; he looked behind him just as he slammed into the end of the hallway. He groaned in pain and looked down to see his coveralls were down by a mere half an inch. By that time Teddy's lungs were screaming. He looked around for anything and miraculously, their was a pocket of air above him. Teddy couldn't believe it, there was somehow air under miles and miles of water. And how? He didn't care. All that mattered was that he got air fast and didn't die. Teddy began to paddle up and then glanced back down and froze. The Sweeper was coming straight for him! He rammed into Teddy's gut, causing his remaining breath to be knocked out of his lungs through his opened mouth. Teddy slapped a hand over his mouth as the Sweeper took a hold of his coveralls. Teddy's breath was spent; there was no air left in his lungs. He began to squirm under the Sweepers grasp to get free but it's grip was like stone. Teddy panicked.
"Don't even try," the Sweeper snickered harshly. Then, shockingly enough, the Sweeper pulled Teddy up to the surface. He gasped and coughed and took lung-fulls of air. Once he recovered, Teddy remembered the Sweeper still had his coveralls in his fist, and started to shriek.
"Get me out of here! Bring me back to Claire! We're going to die here-!"Teddy exclaimed, shouting random sentences again, nerves taken over, but the Sweeper slapped a slimy hand over his mouth, cutting him off.
"Shut it!" he bellowed. "We'll get back to your sister, just take a deep breath." the Sweeper cooed. Teddy shook his head.
"I c-can't go back down there! I don't have a mask!" he yelped. The Sweeper rolled his bulging eyes.
"Yes, but your sister does." he said silkily. Teddy was about to ask what he meant by that when the Sweeper dove and yanked him down under and began swimming against the current. Teddy put his hands to his throat; he hadn't even gotten a breath! Teddy slapped the Sweepers leg but he ignored him and went on through the water. Teddy's throat tightened as they sped on through the water. Soon enough, the Sweeper broke through the surge and had latched onto Claire as well. When she noticed Teddy she gasped audibly.
"Teddy, where's your mask?" she asked. Teddy shook his head and pointed to Claire. She nodded in understanding and fished around for her extra mask. Once she found it, she handed it to Teddy and he quickly put it on. Teddy took a great, refreshing breath of air in relief once his mask had drained the water. They sat in silence.
"I'm gonna die by the time this is over," Teddy said with dark sarcasm, fear overpowering him.
"Not yet you won't," the Sweeper commented. Claire looked at Teddy and he shrugged. He looked ahead to see them heading for a dark room with the door cracked open slightly ajar.