Almost Somewhere

Pen could feel the sense of discomfort around him as he woke up. He looked around, confused. He was in a white....room? It was unreasonably small. Everyone with him barely had room between them or above them. Why was he in this super small room? Was it a room? He could feel a slight shaking every second, occasionally feeling more intense movements, so intense everyone in the room would be shoved into the walls.

"What were you thinking? Were you trying to get yourself killed?" Eraser yelled. Fries was covered in injuries, visible all over his body and limbs. From what Pen could overhear, Fries spent the whole night attempting to mark himself defective, which didn't work. Why would he WANT to be defective? Pen didn't like the idea of what Fries was trying to do, knowing what happened to the defectives.

"Geez what a waste. Lucky enough to have your life spared and you're ungrateful." Lollipop sneered.

"Well let's not say that-" Eraser tried to break up the fight before Fries cut him off.

"Ungrateful? You were friends with defectives. I saw. How are not upset?!" Pen could hear the anger in Fries's voice growing.

"Yes, I WAS. When I found out they were going to die I cut contact. Glad I did seeing how much it messed with your fragile mind." She mocked him carelessly.

"Okay let's stop now! You two will both become defective if you keep this up!" Pen didn't like what Eraser was implying either. How could such violent people be effective?

"Hm? What's going on?" Pillow asked sleepily as she woke up.

"Oh, I don't really know actually. It's really weird-" Before Pen could finish the entire room violently moved, sending everyone slamming into the wall. All the screams died down but it took everyone a minute to readjust.

"Ow...that hurt..." Pillow groaned, laying beside Pen. He helped her up and they both moved back to their side.

"I wonder where we're going." She said as she pressed her face against the white walls.

"See anything through there?" The walls weren't completely opaque, which Pen just noticed.

"It's...grey? Wait no, white? But I also see black? It keeps changing!" Did she sound almost...scared? Suddenly all the moving stopped. And that scared Pen as well. The ceiling suddenly began to move, revealing a tall figure.

"We're just about there. You will do everything I ask of you. And if you don't you know what will happen." Dr. Foster said sternly. Everyone stared up at them silently.

Fries quickly surveyed the surroundings around Foster, immediately thinking of escape plans. The ceilings were smooth and grey. The walls were a pale beige. Where were they? Before he could even start to figure that out the lid of the container they were in was closed. He groaned to himself, watching any information to his freedom leave his sight. He hopelessly felt the swaying of the room return, surely meaning they were moving again. Where could he be taking them? If Foster wanted to kill them why take them somewhere? The defectives were dead, Fries knew that. So there was no reason to move them somewhere to kill.

The faint sound of talking stopped all Fries thoughts. He didn't recognize them at all. He could barely make out what they were saying. But before he could try and understand their words the lid opened again and Foster's hand reached in and grabbed Lollipop out. Fries couldn't help but feel a little bad. But he was happy knowing that the sympathy he had made him nicer than her.

Lollipop was placed onto the light brown wood table. She was almost afraid, seeing about three people she's never seen. One of them, leaned down to look at her.

"And these are...made from real things? This ones made from a lollipop?" Lollipop took notice of their body. A blue shirt, just like Dr.Foster. But they didn't have any white coat like them, they had a button-up blue shirt, not that she knew what that was.

"Yes. It's a real lollipop." Foster clarified. Another figure smiled, laying their chest on the table to see her.

"And it can actually talk? Like a person?" Lollipop took note of his voice. Sounded like Tree. He had a green shirt.

"Yes. Why don't you talk Lollipop?" She had never felt so weirdly pressured. Why was she nervous? She was made for this.

"I can talk. I can read too." She bragged. Another person placed a large book in front of her.

"Prove it then." It was bigger than any other book she's read, but she walked across the page to read.

"It's a good day, or maybe even a great one, although it will be impossible to know for sure until later." She read confidently. The person let her walk off and pulled the book away.

"Dr. Emerson? What's that book there?" They held up the book for the person with the green shirt to see.

"It's one of my son's books. He left his backpack with me. He's in my office, remember Taylor?" Taylor scoffed.

"I'm a doctor too!" Dr. Taylor said, raising their voice.

"I'm aware. I just didn't call you doctor." Foster cleared his throat.

"I apologize, Dr. Foster, for the interruptions. Continue." The person with the blue shirt said.

"Ah, yes. I will. They all can also write, and do math problems." Dr. Emerson pushed a sheet of paper towards Lollipop.

"Oh, I have a pencil for it." Foster handed Lollipop a small pencil.

"Oh! Oh! Write down...Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers!" Dr. Taylor asked happily. Lollipop listened, repeating the tongue twister on the paper.

"That's very impressive Foster!" They said.

"Yes. They've all been taught to do all these things." Foster said in a more calm voice. Lollipop, while never opposing Foster, was still concerned by his easy tone shift.

"Well, if these little guys are meant for a younger audience, I'm sure we could use a...test subject." Dr. Taylor said, grinning at Emerson.

"Are you implying my son tests them?" They asked without a grin. Taylor nodded.

"...that would be a good idea." The blue shirt doctor said.

"But Dr.Oliver-never mind it's fine I guess." Dr. Emerson begrudgingly stood and held a hand out to Foster.

"Give me a few to take to my son." Foster opened the box back up and grabbed Tree, Light Switch, Pen, Pie, and Pillow.

"I didn't need five." They said.

"Well, it'll add some variety." Dr. Foster said calmly. Emerson sighed and walked with them out of the room.

It's the first time Pillow had seen any of the areas outside. It was weird. The pale grey walls and even paler ceiling. And even stranger were the windows she saw, of course, she didn't know what they were, or what the well organized front area outside was, though the trees she saw outside looked familiar.

"Benny. I've brought some new things." Dr. Emerson said, placing the objects on the desk in front of the boy. He was a lanky boy, though you wouldn't be able to see that under the bulky black sweater he wore. You could barely see his eyes either, or most of his face, as it was covered by his black hair. The hair not covering one eye was held back by bright blue hair clips.

"What are these things?" The boy asked, poking at the objects.

"Living things. They're a new project one of our associates has done. Tell me what you think of them." And with that Emerson left the room.

"Um, nice to meet you!" Pillow said first, smiling. Benny smiled back.

"How advanced. Are you guys like, AI?" He asked curiously, picking Pillow up.

"No! We're alive! I've seen all of these people as tiny and small weaklings!" Pen said, motioning to the others.

"Oh! So you guys grow? That's cool." Benny said excitedly, though his voice showed little emotion.

"Yup! We're all alive and real!" Tree said proudly, catching Bennys attention.

"You're Australian?!" He shouted, smiling. They all stared at him quietly.

"He's Australi-huh?" Light Switch asked.

"He has an Australian accent? Don't you hear it?" He asked again.

"Oh! Is that what that is? I just thought it sounded funny!" Pillow giggled.

"Honestly I thought he was defective because of his voice!" Pen said and they all laughed.

"Hey! Well, I'm clearly not! And we shouldn't joke about that after what happened to Bottle..." The laughter died down as Tree spoke. Benny stared intently.

"What happened to Bottle?" Benny asked, now fully invested in their stories.

"She started acting off and got marked defective. So she died." Tree spoke quietly, pain in his voice.

"D-Died? Some of you guys died?" They all nodded.

"That's really not what I was expecting! Are you guys okay? They treat you well out there?" Benny was concerned for their well-being now.

"Oh, I think we're treated pretty well. It's just the defectives that they were mean to." Pillow said.

"And what makes someone... defective?" He interrogated.

"Missing limbs." Pen said.

"Being fragile." Pillow added.

"Being aggressive." Tree said.

"Going against Dr. Foster." Pie continued. Benny threw his hands up angrily.

"That's all bullshit!" He yelled, the objects stared nervously.

"Is that...a bad thing?" Benny slapped his hands over his mouth.

"A-Ah! I shouldn't have sworn! Don't repeat that word." He clarified. They all glanced at each other.

"It's just, you shouldn't have all those rules! And you shouldn't be so controlled by that Foster person." Benny crossed his arms as he spoke.

"We know! But it's not like we have a choice. It's either listen or die." Pen spat angrily.

"Oh, I wish there was something I could do!" He complained, covering his face.

"Well, it's nice that you care at least." Pen stared at the door as he spoke.

"He'll be back soon to get us, right?" He asked the rest of his group.

"Yeah, I bet." Tree answered.

"Oh, I'm nervous! What if I mess something up! He'll get mad at me!" Pillow flapped her hands nervously as she spoke.

"Oh, I'm sure he won't! You haven't done anything yet!" Pen reassured her.

"Yet?!" She yelped, verging on tears.

"Hey! Calm down, please! Here, here's a gift to show how great you're doing!" Benny said, unclipping a small blue star clip from his hair. He placed the clip in her hands. Even though the clip was about two inches long she was only four inches tall, so it was pretty big for her to hold.

"What is it?" She asked quietly, calming down.

"A hair clip! Shaped like a star! Do you like it?" He asked. She stared at him.

"Yeah! It's cool!" She said happily, thoughts of possible defectiveness off her mind. She quickly hid the clip inside her pillowcase. Benny smiled, before hearing the doorknob turn.

"The doctor needs his things back." Dr. Emerson said in a monotone voice.

"Oh. Okay." The objects stared at him sadly, before being picked up and taken away.

Foster walked calmly into the dark lab, flicking on the main light. He just needed to report any results they could before he went home. They'd leave the effectives in the sturdy tub they had them in, for his convenience. Sitting at the computer, he clicked through many apps and tabs, accidentally ending up on the tracker. The tracker worked great, locating any sneaky ones who tried to hide. Foster decided to check where Dr.Xavier had disposed of the defectives, make sure he did it well later.

...

............?

That's weird.

Foster flipped through a file on his desk. They hummed knowingly. That was Dr. Xaviers home address. Maybe he should go check up on them.

Oops took two months!Pretend I didn't!!!!

Anyways got this all planned out >:•))

It'll be epic.

:•)