Chapter Text
Ben felt nothing.
His eyes rolled open and he squinted at the harsh light, his limbs light and numb.
Frantically he blinked, taking in his surroundings. A small room, doors on all four sides as well as one on the floor and one on the ceiling with narrow ladders built into the walls. The room glowed a bright unnatural white.
He stood slowly, cautiously. A hollow echoing rattled through Ben's brain.
Scraping and rumbling came from his left side and Ben spun his head toward the sound. Clueless as to how he got there he tried to remember, struggling with making his mind work.
After a few moments of silence nothing had come to Ben. All he knew was his name.
He walked toward one of the doors soundlessly, twisting the latch and peaking through to the cube shaped room on the other side, this one a baby blue.
He stumbled back, looking toward his feet. Unlatching the door on the floor gave him nothing more than another identical room, this one a brilliant red.
"Shit..." Ben whispered to himself.
He tried one more door. The room on the other side glowed a soft peach, a welcoming colour unlike the harsh white he was currently surrounded with.
Climbing through the hatch he swung his legs through to the other side. Here goes nothing, he thought.
Just as he landed in the next room a mechanical whirring sounded, the door automatically shutting. For a moment there was a relieved silence. This wasn't so bad, all he had to do was go in a straight line - maybe mark each room so he would know if he got turned around and started walking in circles.
He took a step forward and there was an echoing clang. Ben stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he turned to find a razor wire net standing upright behind him. It had gone right through him, he felt it go through him.
Yet Ben was perfectly fine.
He watched it neatly fold itself back up with a mechanical clank, clank, clank. Resetting. Getting ready for its next victim, no doubt. Ben held a hand up to his chest, shakily climbing to his throat. He took another step forward and the contraption fell back down again and like clockwork packed itself back up. Motion sensors, maybe.
Ben decided to take a breath, realising it was the first one he had taken the entire time he'd been awake.
---
Luther's laboured breathing filled the room as he climbed up into the ceiling, looking around with a trained eye. He pulled himself up easily, and quickly when he noticed the young man on the floor of the new room.
"Hey!" He whispered gruffly. The man gave no sign of getting up. Unconscious then.
The whirr of the door alerted Luther to it closing behind him and he stood, speaking louder.
"Hey!" He slapped the man's cheek a bit. No luck.
For a split second Luther considered continuing on, opening another door and peaking inside. A soft peach colour. Looking back at the man limp on the ground with a sweat drenched face, skin and bone - well it helped him find his conscious. The door closed.
He went back over, shaking the man this time. He looked sort of peaceful, familiar even. It swelled some feeling in Luther’s chest that he didn't have much time to dwell on as the man's eyes shot open.
"Oh god..." He muttered as his eyes refocused on Luther’s face. "You ever heard of a mint?"
He dropped the man's coverall lapels unceremoniously and stood back, a small frown on his face.
"Ow! What was that for? Kick a man while he's down why don't you!" His words slurred a bit and for a moment Luther thought he might be hurt before the other man muttered out a soft "What kind of bad trip is this."
A junkie. Figures.
"Now isn't the time for jokes. Do you know-"
The click of the door across the room halted Luther's question and he quickly brought a finger to his lips, shushing the other man silently.
Luther stepped quietly under the door, back pressed against the wall like he was a spy on a mission while the addict gave him a mocking smile from where he was propped up against where two walls meet.
As soon as a small hand reached out Luther shot into action. The threat was pulled quickly and efficiently into the room and slammed onto the ground as a woman's shriek pierced the silence.
"I'm sorry!" Luther shouted as soon as he saw the frightened lady hurrying to the other side of the room, moving backwards frantically on hands and knees.
"Oh, nice going, real friendly."
"Shut up!" Luther shot at the other man before turning back to the woman and adding another small ‘sorry’.
"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." He continued.
"Could have fooled me!"
"What do you want?!" The woman spat, ignoring the other man in the room for now.
"I- I thought you were-"
"What?!"
Luther paused. "I don't know. Are you okay?" He asked awkwardly.
Slurred giggles erupted from the other side of the room.
Luther opened his mouth to begin reprimanding the other before a frightened voice called out.
"Help! Hello?" It came through muffled by the metal walls. "Help!"
Rushing toward the sound Luther twisted the latch as fast as his hands could move. A harsh red light sprung from the room as well as the ladies anxious voice.
"...Help?"
She was clinging to one of the small ladders on the side of the wall like her life depended on it, eyes watery and down-turned. As soon as she saw Luther she rushed toward him, through the fright was still present in her eyes.
"Stop!" He called out. She froze, deathly still. Eyes pleading for someone to tell her everything was going to be okay.
She looked around her with as minimal movement as possible, eyes flicking over every corner of the room.
"What?" She breathed out, "What is it?"
Luther blinked slowly. He decided it was better not to tell the woman practically shaking like a leaf that he had come across not so pleasant things as he traversed the rooms.
"Just... Stay there. I'm coming to get you." He crept across the room and as soon as he was close enough to her, he grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her toward the room he came from, pushed her up the ladder and into the door.
She tripped over her own feet, causing a pair of glasses to fall and crack against the hard floor.
Great. She's going to be useless.
"It's okay, calm down. Everything's going to be fine." He said unconvincingly, less calming and more enforcing.
"What was in there?" The other woman asked forcefully.
"Just give me a minute to figure things out-"
"We don't have a minute! Why were you afraid of that room?!" She pushed. "We need to find a way out of here. He's concussed." She pointed firmly at the man leaning against the floor, hysterical smile on his face as he wiggled his fingers in their direction.
"He's high."
"No, he has a head wound!"
"I said give me a minute-"
The door on the ceiling slid open.
"How many people are in this thing?" Luther thought aloud.
The man peering down from the roof gave Luther an unimpressed look, already disliking him.
"Listen, we can't just go climbing around in this thing!"
"Why not? Who died and put you in charge." The man above replied.
"There's traps-"
"What do you mean traps?" The more confident woman broke in.
"Booby traps." Luther began, "I looked in a room down there and something almost cut my head off."
A startled cry behind him made Luther turn his head. The girl who radiated anxiety was sitting next to the junkie, an innocent look in her eye. Like a young girl who thought there was a monster under her bed.
He really needed to ask everyone what their names were, because at the moment all he had to go on were the numbers embroidered onto their matching coveralls.
Luther's said One. He was ashamed to admit a slight amount of pride filled his chest when he saw it.
"Seven, it's okay, here-" He picked the glasses off of the ground and offered them to her.
She reached out nervously, a slight recognition in her eyes before she shook her head and took the glasses, tucking them back into the coveralls pocket.
"You're going to call her by the number you saw on her shirt? Really?" The other woman- Three said.
"Well what do you expect me to call her? She hasn't exactly given me a name, Three."
"I don't remember you giving one either, and its Allison. Use it or don't talk to me." She directed the next question to Seven, "What's your name sweetie?"
The ceiling man- Two, Luther noticed- gave a slight chuckle that was hidden behind a huff as he sat on the floor and began un-threading his laces from one boot and tying them onto the other. Seven made a little choking noise, like she struggled to get her single word out. "Vanya." She finally managed and Allison nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"Hey, can you hear me?" Allison spoke to the concussed man in an almost mother-like tone and while Luther rolled his eyes he also felt partially bad. From this angle he could see the blood dripping from the back of the guys head and maybe, slightly, Luther regretted referring to him as 'the junkie' in his mind.
"Klaus."
"What?"
"My name, its Klaus." He smiled and gave an awful show of jazz hands in Allison's direction. "I hit my head."
Allison frowned deeply. "Let me take a look at that, Klaus." She tilted his head forward, inspecting the wound. "It doesn't look too bad."
Just then, Two jumped up with the boot he was tying his laces to, placing them in his mouth.
"What the hell are you doing?" Luther asked as he twisted one of the doors open with ease. Two didn't listen, instead he was busy inspecting the room on the other side of the door he had just opened.
"Hey! Did you hear what i said?"
The boot is flung into the room and before Luther could inquire again, four small holes opened up in the next room and began spraying fire with reckless abandon. The boot lay on the ground in a charred mess before Two pulled it back with it’s extra long boot laces.
"Trapped." Is all he says.
Luther levels him with a look that says 'well, obviously' before speaking.
"So the boot-"
"Motion detectors." Two interrupts, "Integrated into the walls. Tough to spot."
Vanya's panicked voice rings through the silence Two had created. "Oh, God."
Two climbs up to the next door, trusty boot in mouth before Luther grabs him back by the shoulder.
"Hold on- Just- Lets all just relax for a minute." He swallows as everyone in the room gives him their attention. "Does anybody remember how they got here? Or, remember anything at all?"
Resounding silence.
He turns to Allison. "Anything?" He pushes.
She looks down.
"Anyone?"
"We just woke up here, man." Comes the hushed reply from Klaus.
So they had nothing. Fantastic.
---
"Aliens." Klaus said.
"Please," Luther began, "She's spooked enough as it is." He gestured to Vanya, still huddled in the corner. "Let's... Let's not go jumping to conspiracy theories right now. We need to concentrate on what we know."
"I won't be there." Vanya says softly, "They wont even notice."
"What? Be where? Vanya, do you remember something?"
She looked up with clouded eyes, "I..." Vanya licked her lips and looked down as she thought, brow wrinkling. "I play violin. We have a concerto and- I'm not going to be there."
Luther smiled, "So someone's going to know you're missing, someone'll look for you?"
"No. They'll just replace me... I don't think any of them even know my name."
Luther's shoulders drop and Vanya gives him a sad apologetic look. Somebody in here had to have someone who cares about them, he thought, he knew that there had to be someone coming. So why did he need some sort of confirmation so badly?
Two was still fiddling with the laces on his boots, tying knots and looping them around. He seemed to be the one who would be the most helpful and Luther was grateful he wasn't the only tough guy in this place. He didn't much like babysitting.
"What do you think Two?"
"I think making us sit here is a load of bullshit. We won't solve jack shit just twiddling our thumbs. I'm moving in a straight line 'till i get to the end of this thing."
Luther had to agree, that probably was the best option.
"Shouldn't we wait here?" Allison piped up.
"For what?" Two raised his eyebrow at her.
"To see if anyone comes?" She spoke as if she thought they were all morons.
Klaus giggled from the floor. "No one's gonna come, darling."
"Look," Two got up into Allison's face, "There was a way in here, that means there's a way out. We avoid the traps using the boot. We look for an exit, or you can sit here and rot. Up to you."
Luther and Allison shared a look before nodding toward Two.
"What about you?" Luther directs at the man on the ground.
Klaus rolls his eyes, picking his head up to look them in the eye. "It can't be that simple."
"It won't be simple." Says Two. "Look around. Have a good, long look. I've got a feeling there's something looking back."
The groups eyes flicked over their shared space anxiously.
"We just have to stay calm." Luther broke the silence, "We need to work together as a team, between the five of us there's gotta be a lot of people looking for us on the outside, yeah? We're gonna get out of here, I promise, but you have to do as i say."
"You sound like a cop." Klaus laughs as Two glares.
"What's wrong with being a cop?"
Everyone's eyes flicked toward him.
"You a cop, man?"
Two glanced around, "M-Maybe." He stuttered, unsure. "Don't remember. Feels right." He climbs up the side of a door after shoving his boot laces in his mouth.
"Okay, check the room."
"You're not in charge of me." Two aims the boot for the other side of the room anyway, boot laces wrapped around his wrist. "You ain't cop material either." He says under his breath.
The boot flies into the room and Two sits for a second, watching.
"Clean." He finally calls, climbing into the room himself.
It goes on like this for a while, Two throwing boots into rooms and watching them land safely or get horribly slashed, burned and diced while the rest look on.
They climb into a mint green room and mechanical factory sounds begin rumbling through the walls, awful screeching sounds that shake the entire room.
Vanya catches herself on the bridge between rooms, gasping as it shook. Once again her glasses fall out of her coverall pocket.
It's not a very deep pocket.
Vanya reaches down for them, hands and knees in the gap between rooms and makes a surprised noise. Her glasses had fallen right on top of an engraved metal label.
"That sounded closer." Commented Allison.
"Its mechanical. Seems to come at irregular intervals," Replied Two.
"Maybe it's the ventilation system?" Luther added.
"No vents." Two tapped on the solid wall. "Moron."
Vanya tuned them out as she slid her glasses on and read the numbers.
566 472 737.
"What is it?" Luther exclaimed, turning to see why she hadn't climbed through.
Allison tipped her head in next to his and pointed down at what Vanya was tracing with her fingers.
"Serial numbers?" Luther asked.
"Maybe, room numbers?" Allison replied.
Vanya turned back to look at the metal plate on the room they had just come from. "They're different in each room i think."
"Oh, great." Came Klaus from behind her, "Well, there's only 566 million, 400 thousand-odd rooms in this thing!"
"There better fucking not be." Allison grit her teeth.
"We have about three days without food and water until we're too weak to move." Luther said solemnly.
"Well," Vanya tilted her head up, "They have to feed us... Don't they?"
Allison levelled Luther with a warning glare but he kept speaking like she never had.
"We have heat, stress, physical exertion, dehydration-"
"Headaches, dizziness, disorientation, confused mental processes." Two added with a smirk. "The body eventually begins to break down its own tissue."
Vanya's breathing noticeably quickened.
"Suck on it." Two said softly, pulling a button off of her coveralls. "Makes your mouth think you're eating, gets the saliva flowing, keeps your mouth from getting dry." He opened his mouth where his own button sat on his tongue. She took it from his hand with a soft ‘thank you’.
---
Another boot flew into another room.
"Clear." Said Luther, about to climb through.
"Wait." Two grabbed him by the collar, pulling him back.
"It's clear."
"Is it?"
Climbing up the ladder himself, Two leaned his face through the bridge and sniffed.
"I don't trust that."
Luther huffed, "Oh, what? Too scared that your suit'll get a little odour? No offence, but you don't smell too-"
"No, you idiot. The air... It's too dry in there."
The rest of them looked toward Two, waiting for him to explain.
"Molecular chemical sensor. Detects hydrogen sulphide excreted from the skin."
"So why the hell didn't the boot set it off?"
Klaus calls from across the room, "The boots not alive, dipshit."
Luther recoiled at that slightly before changing the subject.
"How is it you know so much about sensors, Two?"
"Diego."
"Fine, your names Diego. I'm asking you how- Diego." Luther paused, mulling the name over in his mind. In all honesty, Luther had a sense of deja vu with everyone's names but this time, he remembered something.
"Diego. I don't believe it.” He gave a small laugh “You aren't a cop."
This made Diego whip around, "What?"
Luther smiled excitedly, "I remember! No you- You're not a cop. Vigilante. You didn't even make it past the police academy."
"How the hell do you know that." Diego said coldly.
"Are you telling me you remember?" Said Allison as Vanya simultaneously cried "Vigilante? You can get us out!"
"Maybe?" Both men said to their respective conversation.
"What do you mean maybe? Either you remember something or you don't. You know him?"
"No! Yes? I- I know of him?"
"Tell me a bit about myself then, because i sure as hell don't remember a thing."
"It's complicated." Luther struggled to explain. "I- I know you’re a vigilante but I... I don't know why or how i know that? I'm sorry. I don't know who you are."
Diego huffed, "Well, that was useless." He said, throwing his boot into another room.
"A vigilante, is that like a- um- like some sort of escape artist or-"
"Yeah, I'm Harry fucking Houdini." Diego replied to Vanya with a roll of his eyes. "A vigilante fights the crime that the cops are too chicken shit to look at."
Vanya's shoulders dropped, "But... You can still help us get out right? I mean you know so much-"
"Listen lady, the only reason i dragged you all this far is cause i need your boots." He lifted up the previously thrown boot to emphasise. "If you don't smarten up, i'm gone like that." Punctuating his sentence with a snap of his fingers.
He jumped into the room, bare feet hitting the ground roughly.
Click.
"Shit."
A small hole opened with an electronic buzz and shot opaque liquid toward Diego, hitting him straight in the face. The mechanical whirr of the door automatically closing was drowned out by his own screams.
"Get it open!" Allison shrieked as the door began locking into place.
Luther wasted no time, twisting the doors handle and pulling it back open in record time. He looked up and was met with Diego, struggling to climb through. Luther stood in shock as the place where Diego's face used to be was now nothing but a grotesque melted void. Blood dripped down onto the door as Luther grabbed Diego under the arms and pulled him back into the room with them. His screams lessened, now just a messy, painful gurgling.
Distantly Luther heard the screams of the others behind him, but all he could focus on was Diego's non-existent face as he dropped him to the floor.