Coding Error [OFF x Reader]

13. Blueprints

The aftermath left behind by the glitched elsen changed many aspects in the room. The most noticeable ones being, floor tiles out of place, steam tubes bent in odd shapes and random doors spawning all over the walls but thry don't lead to anywhere. Almost as if they were taunting your lack of an exit, considering a stack of glitching crates were now blocking the only functionable doorway.

Basically locking the three of you inside the closet.

"This is strange, very strange, then again it almost feels like a new puzzle" you noted, taking a few steps back.

"You think so? To me it looks like an unintentional mishap." Zach adds.

You and your add on's split up to find a way out, or at least investigate what's usable and what isn't.

"Look over here!" Batter gained your attention towards a portion of the room.

Batter points at a once solid wall, which is currently splattered by a blotch of static-like particles, identical to the ones on the glitched elsen's face.

"There's something sticking from the wall," The batter tries to dig his hand inside the static mess, only to immediately pull back his hand with a pained hiss.

"Batter!" you worryingly made your way to the athlete.

"I'm fine," he reassured you. "It felt like a static shock." the man rubbed the skin on his hand.

You pressed your lips together in thought, an idea striking inside your head. "Give me your bat,"

The Batter followed your order, handing you his bat and using the item to poke the glitching hole until the object fell from the wall.

"Bingo," you grin, picking up the item without any trouble.

From the corner of your eye you noticed the Batter tense up, fearing you'll get hurt like him, but quickly dismissed it once he saw you're fine.

"What is it?" Zach asks curiously.

"It's a laptop," you turn the object in your hands to give it a good view. Finding every dent, scratch and sticker in place. "But it's not any laptop, It's the one I have in my house."

<i>If that's the case, what's it doing all the way here?</i>

You opened the lid, powering up the device from hibernation mode, finding the screen already filled with green text against a dark background. There was something familiar in the screen however.

You took your time with the device. Taking a seat and crossing your legs on the floor.

Neither Batter nor Zacharie interrupted you, unwilling to interrupt your thinking process.

"Aha!" you snap your fingers together. "No wonder this looks familiar."

"What did you find?" Batter inquires, standing and crouching behind you.

"This is coding used to make video games. All the commands and controls are here but it's messy and cluttered up, it's like a newbie made it. Heh just like me in my first years," you shook your head. "No wonder this place is buggy and glitches out. We're practically inside a virtual world, and here I thought I was going mad."

You raise a finger to your chin, noticing how the code shares the room's characteristics, describing the same color, size and layout.

<i>I wonder...</i>

You bog inside your memory for a moment, trying to remember a specific command before typing away on the laptop, making the text less cluttered and more efficient by erasing any unnecessary content. Your add on's observed in amazement how the room changed again, reverting back to its old shape. Easily figuring out its all your doing.

"Outstanding~" Zacharie clapped his hands together.

"Well done puppeteer." Batter added his two cents.

You gave a good look at your surroundings, no longer seeing all the glitches that plagued the room and the exit.

"Huh, didn't know it would work... I mean, yeah! that should do it." you close the laptop, satisfied with the results.

"How joyous, I bet we can cheat through this world with your computer knowledge in no time!" Zacharie rubbed his hands together.

Batter is quick to bump in the conversation. "No Zacharie, cheating is bad. We'll use (y/n) talents for the glitch elsens, isn't that right?" the athlete turns at you expectantly.

You however, just kept your eyes locked to the ground, sheepishly rub your shoulder.

"About that... You see, I'm pretty forgetful when it comes to this coding stuff, all I memorized was the basics. But if I wanna make any big changes, I'm gonna need my class notes from my notebook." your face went hot, only noticeable by the dark gray hues on your face.

"Don't worry, we'll just take you back to your room. What do you say?" Zacharie pats your shoulder.

"Really? I mean, that's a good idea, I just didn't want to bother you guys with all the backtracking," you shook off your embarrassment.

"It's no issue, after all you could some rest too." Batter agrees with Zacharie's idea.

"Alrighty then. Let's get out of these sewers first. Zacharie, lead the way." you nod towards the masked man.

Zach pulled out the map from within his backpack, giving it a quick view before tracing a path with his finger.

"There's an exit on the back of the building that will lead us to the docks, it's a few rooms from here." Zacharie informed you.

"Excellent, let's head out team!" you lead the way.

While the three of you walked out of the closet, you handed Zacharie your laptop for safe keeping in his backpack. However, you couldn't help but keep wondering to yourself.

"Whats the matter puppeteer?" The Batter asks.

"A credit for your thoughts?" the masked man chuckles.

You pout your lips in thought before speaking. 

"I was just wondering. If this is a game, then who created its messy coding?"