Squad Tales: Edition II

[PART 5] Home Sweet Home

Lydia shot out of the cab, the others following slowly behind her. They all looked up in astonishment. Before them was a tall, modern tower that had several balconies. The windows gleamed, reflecting the setting sun as the day was slowly coming to a close. The walls of the tower were made from white marble tile that seemed out of place in the dim city. Casually, Lydia approached the large double doors which swung open in front of her. 

The others quickly followed behind her, eager to see what they had been promised. In the main hallway of the tower, they could see a large elevator up to the back which could whisk you up and down the five floors (that they could see) . They collected around her in a group, waiting for directions on what to do, a little dazzled by the huge size of the tower.

She just looked between them, before vaguely announcing, "Find your way around, I need to go out on a quick errand." 

Sawnik looked confused, expecting an extravagant introduction or some type of tour, at least. The others stood there, awkwardly silent, not quite sure what to say. Sawnik spoke up, "Okay, we'll- see you when you get back!" 

But she had already gone.

Hyper made his way to the elevator curiously, a little shocked as the doors immediately opened as he approached. Inside was a large panel of buttons, many symbols, and a small speaker. He reached out curiously, but before being able to experiment the entire panel flipped round, leaving him with only five buttons, numbered. He noticed Zone had followed him into the elevator. 

"You- techy- you know what this stuff is?" Hyper wondered, moving aside so he could let Zone into the elevator beside him.

Zone shrugged, "I wouldn't know. It just looks like.. buttons to me, I'd have to uh.. open it. And that doesn't sound like a great idea."

Hyper sighed, aimlessly pressing one of the silver plated pads.

Nothing happened.

"Wow, I bet this piece of crap doesn't eve-"

The doors snapped shut, shocking the two who remained inside the elevator. After a brief pause, the tiny metal box shot its way up to the third floor. As the doors dragged themselves open once more, they peered around curiously. It was plainly a hallway with several doors, to which they could see into one of; a bedroom.

"Oh, brilliant." Hyper remarked. "We managed to find our way straight to our rooms, isn't that great?"

Zone just nodded in reply, as they filed out of the tiny space. Hyper felt uncomfortable at the clinically white, fluffy carpet that was complimented by the utterly spotless cream walls. "So, where d'you think we-AAAAH!"

"Oof.." Grumbled a surprised Wik, rubbing his side. The two had just collided tremendously, resulting in Hyper projecting backwards onto the floor.

"You again? How did you even get here bef-" He was cut off as the taller boy pointed to the circular staircase just behind him. 

"Ugh.." Hyper rolled his eyes, standing up and folding his arms tightly. "Of course you did."

"What does that mean?" Asked Wik, surprisingly firing back and not just ignoring the sly comments this time.

"Of course, you found the stairs before I did. That's all there is to it." Hyper shrugged nonchalantly, turning to fiddle with one of the doorknobs before eventually opening it.

"...Right." Finished a defeated-looking Wik, who continued on his way with the boxes of equipment he was carrying. "I don't see why that's anything to be surprised about."

Hyper just bit his tongue, shutting the door behind him a little harder than necessary.

The others eventually found their way into their respective rooms, to which they all discovered an odd thing. Despite walking into a fairly plain, white bedroom that began off as identical little chambers, as they left and returned through the door frame several times belongings and personalized furniture began to.. appear.

Sawnik noticed her bed grow a little bigger, and a charging station for her various components. Zone noticed how shelves had sort of just...sprouted out of the wall, right next to the Workshop bench that had appeared earlier. Even though the group had arrived with very little belongings, it didn't take much work to notice that their rooms were adjusting themselves to their needs. They all wondered how, why... and if it was safe, but for now they all chose to bask in their dream bedrooms, decked out in everything they could dream of.

Hyper couldn't help but remember the other side of the deal they had yet to keep up, and was curious as to how that would work.