SHAYLIN'S BLACK TOWER.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY7:58 am.

Fish bones cracked underfoot as the group of seven walked through a maze of red bricks and white boats. Along the walls were the occasional fishing rod, net, and buoy. A few other things laid about that were reminiscent of a fishing village. Above were electrical lines and the occasional flying train.

"So Tak, what do you do for fun?" Shaylin asked.

"I-I used to read books, but recently I started gardening with General Salt."

"Oh! Gardening!"

"Y-Yeah! Before I wasn't allowed to go outside," he said. "So now I've been spending every out there. P-Plants are cool."

Shaylin nodded. "Plants are cool."

Tak tilted his head. "You like nature?"

The ginger was aghast, she turned to the immortal.

"I love nature! Look at my tattoo, my samara bots, even my pants have vines."

"S-Sorry, but aren't robots like the opposite of nature?"

Shaylin sighed.

"Robots are the next form of evolution. I don't know why everyone can't see that," she frowned. "All people do is focus on the negative things about them. Even though they can do so much good."

"Greenhouse gasses bruh," Mary said.

"Literally such an easy fix. Just use electric," Shaylin shouted.

"What about being emotionless murder machines," Boots chided.

"Ok – ok wow. Yeah, that's because in those movies they don't make a map of the human brain first," she continued. "Seriously, just clone the brain properly and the robot will have emotions. If I could turn myself into one just to prove it, I would... Honestly I might. I've contemplated becoming a hive mind."

"And supervillain of the year goes tooooo," Raven sang.

Shaylin punched his shoulder with her cybernetic arm and he chuckled.

"MARY! What do you like to do?" The ginger asked.

The dark-skinned girl blinked.

"When I have free time I normally do research on my disease," she said. "But when I'm stressed out I occasionally do artwork. O-Originally I picked it up to make diagrams of the human body... But I've learned to appreciate doodling too, because of it."

Shaylin turned to Alice, who in turn cringed.

"Alice likes to play the tanpura," Mary said. "It's an exotic stringed instrument."

As she finished those words she yawned. Alice jabbed a finger in Mary's mouth.

"BRUH!"

Alice smiled. Mary rolled her eyes and continued.

"She also likes to read books."

"Y-You too?" Tak asked.

Alice nodded.

"M-Maybe we could start a book club?"

Alice smiled a little brighter.

"... Perhaps," she whispered.

"Oh Booooots!" Shaylin smirked.

The tall man sighed.

"I don't do fun."

Shaylin boo'ed.

"Begrudgingly, I admit I can sing," he grimaced. "And no. I will not demonstrate."

"You're no fun," she frowned.

"Bruh really, why learn if you don't share."

"I learned for Spark."

The group went silent for a moment; Boots continued.

"She loves music... I picked it up to make her happy."

Shaylin turned to Raven. "And you?"

"Ok... Why can I never be an attorney?"

"War crimes?" Mary asked.

"What? No... Well... No."

"Why?" Shaylin grinned.

"Because no one will hire an attorney at caw!"

Mary groaned.

"I-I don't get it."

"He likes puns," Boots said in a deadpan voice.

"Ohhhh! I get it now."

Mary groaned louder.

"And that's why Raven is literally the worst."

The bird of death leaned against a fish stall in the maze.

"Now, now. Don't be trouty."

Mary's groan rivaled screaming.

"Jokes aside, these days I like to harass Owl," Raven said. "Being fifteen, the kid is real easy to rile up."

He snickered and walked away from the fish stall.

"We birds of death were raised to be tools. However, even tools have moments where they are being used," he said. "During those times Owl, being the boy genius, became very interested in technology... Unfortunately that stuff is impossible to create."

"It's really not that hard," Shaylin interjected.

Mary tapped Shaylin on the shoulder and gingerly leaned into her ear.

"FOR YOU!"

Shaylin shouted and flailed into the wall.

"Anyways, so Owl had to buy the stuff he couldn't create. And that requires money," Raven continued. "Which has gotten him into crypt currency lately. So it goes without saying, teasing him is mandatory now."

"That's hilarious!" Shaylin rubbed at her ear.

"Yeah..." Raven paused. "I think Owl is a good person at heart. It's a shame he had to grow up like that."

Boots's eyes softened; he closed them a moment later.

"It seems everyone has a bad childhood in DeathTech," Shaylin said. "It must be hard to go on some days. How do you do it?"

"Hope. It's all we have," Raven nodded. "People need hope. I need it. Maybe one day the people I care about will be free. That's how I can go on."

He turned away from Shaylin, rubbed his arm, and turned to stare deeper into the maze.

"Without that hope, I don't know how I'd cope with the atrocious acts I've committed," he muttered. "I don't believe in good or evil. Right or wrong. History is written by the victors and the losing side is always the villain... But I do believe that the closest thing we can get to good, is through acts of love."

He turned to face the group.

"And it's opposite, the true face of evil, is born through acts of selfishness."

The world started shaking. Everything screamed as if they were near the tracks and a train was approaching. Cold seeped into the air as the temperature dropped.

"It's happening again!" Mary shouted.

"Everyone come here now!" Shaylin blurted.

The group stumbled towards her direction. In a flash, Shaylin created a swarm of leaf bots – a pink flower bulb encompassed the entire group. A few heartbeats passed and the world went calm and the barrier's petals dissipated.

Their environment had changed completely. The group stood in the dark of some child's room. Red and white stripes were the core theme of most the items here. That and lighthouses. There were a ton of lighthouse curios that decorated the room. A single window revealed stars drawn in crayon and adjacent to it was a single door.

Mary walked forward and tried the knob. "Locked."

"Where are we?" Tak asked.

"I don't know," Shaylin paused. "Mary, be careful with that door."

"I'm sure it's incredibly dangerous," she responded.

The ginger walked over and inspected it.

"Seems like a normal door... Is there a key laying around?"

"I know I have one somewhere," Professor Grim rummaged through his pockets. "Should be next to my... Where's my wallet?"

A look came across Shaylin's face.

"Raven. Could you corrupt this door open?"

He shook his head. "Sorry Shay Bae. I'd love to help, but not with corruption... Too dangerous."

"You seemed to use it pretty freely on the Anglerfish soldier."

The bird of death stammered.

"T-That's different. It was going to kill Noche," he hesitated. "Edward wanted her alive. I had orders to bring her alive."

The ginger grinned. A glint of knowing in her eyes.

"Sure."

Raven gulped; the door opened.

"Gasp!"

"Did you just literally say gasp?"

"GASP! Raven's swallowing powers opened the door!"

"My what?!"

Tak stood up.

"A-Actually, I picked the lock."

The immortal held a small kit of tools in his hand.

"I created them while you were teasing Raven."

"Gee golly gosh, good job Tak!"

Shaylin walked over and patted him on the head. He blushed in response. Pushing the door open led to the shores of a black ocean. Tak took a step outside, but Shaylin placed her hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"Tak wait, what are you doing?"

"W-What? It's not like I'll drown," he said. "Besides, it's the only way out."

"Just... Be careful," she said. "Also wear something warmer. You're gonna get cold if all your clothes get wet."

Tak stared at her for a few seconds and blinked. He stepped out onto the waves and they didn't break. His foot didn't sink. His brows scrunched up as he took a few more steps out on the ocean. It continued to hold his weight. The immortal bounced and the water jiggled like rubber.

"G-Guys! It's solid!"

Shaylin stepped forward and scanned the liquid with her left arm.

"Huh... It reads as water."

Prismatic energy formed a samara bot in front of Shaylin. It flew down and landed on the waves. The robot did not sink, merely bobbed up and down. As if it rested on top of some sort of gel.

"Holy fuck!" Raven shouted.

"What?"

"You just created robots!"

"Yeah?"

"How!"

"Oh, simple really. I start from the atoms, then molecules, chemical arrangement—"

"I know how Create works. I mean the robot bit! How are they moving!"

"Because of the hardware, coding, and parts silly," she giggled.

"That's not what... Oh my god, the staggering amount of things you'd have to visualize," Raven paused. "It gives me a headache just thinking about it."

Shaylin put her finger to her mouth. "I'm pretty familiar with the process. I'd say it takes me fifteen seconds to visualize everything from start to finish."

Raven whistled. "You are one of a kind."

"Thanks!"

"Man... I thought it was impossible," he muttered. "Owl would be so jealous."

A sly grin slid across Shaylin's face.

"Oh, he was."

"Bruh, I'm a fucking ninja!" Mary shouted as she jumped on the water like a trampoline.

"It's not that fancy," Boots frowned. "I've run across liquids before."

"Yeah, but have you ever stood on water?"

Boots didn't respond.

"That's what I thought."

"Guys look!" Shaylin shouted.

In the distance was a dark column. It pierced the sky like a lance from the stars. Going far beyond sight into the night sky. Giant chains, each link the size of a small house, connected the pillar to something far below the ocean.

"Bruh, is that?"

"I-It couldn't be."

"It... is."

"The Cross asylum," Shaylin said. "But how can it be here? In this dream world?"

Raven took a few steps forward, his head arching backwards as his gaze followed the tower that pierced the heavens until it was out of sight; hidden by the darkness of the night sky.

"Should we go check it out?" Mary asked.

"Do we have any better options?" Boots said.

"M-Maybe it'll have a way out," Tak stammered.

"I doubt it," Boots frowned.

Shaylin smacked him on the back.

"Come on now Mr pouty pants, no being sad," she grinned. "Let's go check out the spooky tower of death!"

The ginger skipped towards the infinite pillar. Everyone followed behind and with each step the tower seemed to grow exponentially closer. It was like they were all walking on a treadmill that multiplied their speed with each second. Soon they all stood before the entrance to the most dangerous prison in the world; its door was ajar.

Mary was first to approach. She pushed it open and the creak its hinges emitted was as loud as a megaphone. Shaylin cracked the knuckles on her right hand, tapped her left eye, and a beam of light shone from it.

"Bruh... Is there anything you don't have in your arm or eye?"

"Well my diesel-powered dildo is in my other arm."

"Your WHAT!"

Shaylin burst out laughing.

"It's just a joke – I'm joking," she smiled. "It's in this arm."

"Eww!"

"Children," Boots said.

Shaylin chuckled and entered the tower. Inside was a small square room with a spiral staircase that went down to the left and another spiral staircase that went up to the right. Investigating both revealed there were three doors, the one in front of her, one far down the left, and one far up the right. Of them, only the left door hung ajar.

"This way," she said.

The group investigated the somewhat opened door first. Inside was a sort of surgery room. Massive curtains surrounded a silhouetted operating table; there was a man strapped to the table. Adjacent to this was a few vats with people wearing bell diver suits floating inside.

"Bruh... Is this supposed to be here?" Mary asked.

"The Cross Asylum is supposed to be a prison for lifetime sentences," Shaylin said. "Not home to some generic scene from a mad scientist."

The world shook, dust fell from the ceilings, and the flashlight beam flickered

"The experiments are working. The diving suits are keeping the energy contained," a ghostly voice said. "Bring in the next test subject. We're so close to replicating a being similar to General Salt."

"Bumbaklat!" Mary shouted.

"I-Is this real?" Tak asked.

"Might not be," Boots said. "This dream world doesn't seem to follow any logic."

"I'm not sure. I think it's a reflection of the real world to some extent," Shaylin said. "Which means if what we're seeing is an echo of reality... Then what is going on at the real Cross Asylum?"

The ghostly voices returned.

"A being of pure Drive. General Salt is proof it can be done," two voices said in synch. "If we can achieve a form like his, then we'll have the power to free Create."

A loud, metal creak reverberated throughout the entire room. The door to the next flight of stairs leading downwards opened.

"I'm not sure I want to go do the spooky stairwell," Raven said.

"You're a General. You have corruption!" Mary said.

"I no like spooky stairwell!"

Shaylin was halfway towards the open door.

"I think I need to investigate more," the ginger said. "If human experiments are being done at the Cross Asylum, I want to know more."

She proceeded to enter the door. It didn't take long for most the group to catch up to her. Shaylin grit her teeth and increased her pace down the stairs. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and hoped this was all fake. However, if there was even a chance this was real, she had to stop it.

The stairs went on and on, which was to be expected for a tower of this size, yet it also seemed off. It was more of a feeling really. The sensation of traveling through space much faster than you could walk. In what seemed like a few minutes, the group arrived at the bottom.

"I-I feel weird," Tak said.

"The Asylum's bottom shouldn't be this close," Boots muttered.

"This isn't my basement," Professor Grim stated.

"It shouldn't be. I think reality is being warped again," Shaylin said. "We're probably seeing echoes of the real world. I'm guessing these echoes come from places of strong impact to people's minds."

"Mind explaining that simply?"

"I think this dream world reflects places that make people emotional," Shaylin took a deep breath. "The stronger the emotion, the clearer the reflection."

"S-So we skipped most of the asylum cause a lot of it is repetitive and forgettable?"

Shaylin nodded. "We're only seeing places that have a lasting impact on people's psyche."

"So what, we're in the collective unconscious?" Mary asked.

"Or some place like it," Shaylin stated.

At the depths of the tower were five doors; two of which hung open. Shaylin entered the first one and grimaced. A massive table full of torture instruments, a wall full of thick chains, and a giant anchor laid on the floor encompassed the contents of this room.

"A torture chamber," she shut her eyes and turned away.

"Ok yeah, that'd be memorable," Mary muttered.

"I'm going to the next room," Shaylin whispered.

Together the group entered the second room and it was much the same as the first one. There was one small exception, in place of an anchor on the floor, there was an onyx statue. It was that of a woman on her knees. As Shaylin grew close, her eyes widened as the details became clearer. It was President Medusa.

The door slammed shut.