Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Le Maree Della Guerra (The Tides of War) ❯ Hide and Seek ( Chapter 19 )

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Le Maree Della Guerra (The Tides of War)

Movement 19: Hide and Seek

By: Revamp

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Hiroto groaned as sharp pains rippled through his body. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground in an entirely different place than he had passed out in. Wasn't he in that dark maze before? Where was that Deep Sea guard? Did he take him here after he passed out? All he remembered was running into a wall so hard he knocked himself out.

He glanced up to see that he had ended up falling down a shaft of some kind and fell through the ceiling and into what looked like a control room. It consisted of metal walls with two windows on each side and a single door. Sluggishly pulling himself up, his body felt far heavier than it had. It was almost like he had been drugged and he was so tired. No doubt all of that running and screaming had worn him out.

Rising to his feet, the penguin stumbled over to a metal desk that was littered with papers and a small fan that provided circulation of water in the room. There were several monitors but they were all off and looked as if they had been inactive for a while. Atop of the desk laid a tablet with a large screen. He pulled out the blue office chair and sat in it.

“Hello? Hi. Oh good, I'm in the control room. This must be where all of the cameras are,” he glanced at the clock, which read midnight. It was that late? How long had he been roaming around in those corridors? He glanced back to the desk, where a phone sat and realized what he had to do now.

“This is the second part of the mission. I just have to wait until I get that call,” he turned on the tablet as the phone began to ring. He picked it up and spoke into the receiver. “Hello? There are creepy things here.”

After waiting a few minutes, the tablet started up and showed that the cameras had been hacked. On the screen were all of the camera locations. If he tapped on them, he could change to which camera controlled what room. A toothy smile crossed his face. “Yes! So far it worked,” then he was reminded of a more immediate threat as Accord walked into a room on one of the cameras, accompanied by the other generals. “Hello, that's them.”

He had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

“Hello!” A young, male voice intoned over the receiver.

Hiroto jumped a bit at the sound of it. At this rate, anything made him jumped. His nerves were beyond fried. “Hi! I'm here!”

“I recorded this message for you to help guide you along the way from what I know.” It figured that it was a recording. The penguin frowned at his own misfortune. Well, that solved the question of why no one answered him for a while and why there was a long silence until the voice finally responded.

“Ugh,” he groaned in irritation. Now no one could help him and he'd be forced to rely on himself. He didn't like this at all.

“I've actually done some inside missions there, so I know how to operate around these guys. Call me…a special agent. I know it can be a bit overwhelming but you have nothing to worry about. Things will be fine. Let's just focus on getting you adjusted to your stay,” the voice sounded happy and upbeat, despite the bleak setting and the fact that Hiroto was inside one of the core rooms of the Deep Sea's facility.

“Okay, just tell me what I have to do,” Hiroto continued to tap the camera and glance between different rooms. He could see that the generals were talking in the main hall. There was a large dining area with many tables and chairs. There were also cameras in their rooms, bathrooms, what appeared to be a kitchen with stoves and cooking surfaces with walls of utensils, and a place that was labeled as Party Corner. It looked to be some place that had a bar and several bar seats as well as a television, pool table, and other activities. There were also cameras in the West Wing, a ballroom, a piano room and an East Wing. All of the cameras were visual only and had no sound.

“If you came this far, then you probably have hacked the cameras. Now you have to make sure that you can make it through the three days that you need to stay here to ensure the system you have works and goes undetected,” Hiroto listened to the voice's words as he peered at the supply closet in the room. “Now, that might sound bad-“

“Yeah!” Hiroto knew it sounded more than just bad.

“You'll have eleven rooms to monitor. The grid on your camera will show you where they are in relation to you. There are four generals who stay here: Symphony, Accord, Topeka, and Cristo. They do wander around a bit. Someone had once went on the same mission as you but they got caught,” the voice continued to explain the fate of the last spy that was assigned Hiroto's mission.

“Got caught? What? How?” He hoped on all things holy that he would be told what the hell happened so he'd know what to expect at the very least.

“It's amazing to think they could live without their legs,” that sentence sent a new wave of fear through the penguin.

“WHY?!” He hated this! Oh, how he hated it! He just wanted to go home and never go back into the sea again!

“The only real risk to you is if they happen to catch you in here,” the voice continued. “If you hide in that corner behind the metal box, they can't see you. They'll just walk on through like you never existed. You can also close the doors if you're stupid enough to open them at any point. However, if they are too close to notice…Well, you can only imagine what would happen to you then.”

“Yeah! Why? Just…Why?” Hiroto wasn't going to open those doors. He would literally rather die behind a box than risk a general finding him. He didn't even know anything about these guys, except his sister and even that was debatable considering what he learned from her letters. It was like she was a different person to him.

“But hey, we'll chat tomorrow. Remember; only use the doors when you have to. Also, they shut the power off in an hour so you only have the battery that's charged on your security device,” with that friendly reminder the voice bid Hiroto good night and left him to his devices.

Now it was just him in an empty room with the only company being his tablet.

“This isn't good. Oh no! Oh, this is bad! I understand what I need to do!” He proclaimed with a finger pointed into the air dramatically as he checked the cameras. “I need to watch this and hack the cameras so they don't come after me.”

He began to get to work and occasionally check his cameras to see where the generals were located. He had to stay on his toes and check them often to make sure that no one came after him. As he was making his rounds with them, he noticed that only three of the generals were in the hall now. Topeka was standing on the outside of the group, while Cristo and Symphony looked as if they were engaged in conversation but…where was Accord?

“Oh shit!” Hiroto exclaimed and tapped on the camera wildly until he came to the piano room. Accord was seated on the piano bench and was drinking what looked like fine wine. “Oh hi! There you are! Accord you ugly bastard.”

The penguin glanced away and continued to attempt to hack the main system without getting caught. He had to make sure that he could run a stream of the camera feed from the Deep Sea to Nautica's Northern Capitol without being detected. “Okay! Okay, okay. I get it. I get it. I get it. Where'd you go?”

The penguin checked on the piano room again, only to find Accord was still in there. He was sitting at the piano with his wine glass sat atop of it as he played around with something that looked like a cell phone. “You're still there? You stay there,” he gave a command to no one.

He flipped the camera back on to check on Accord after a few more minutes, only to see the shark staring directly into the camera. His eyes were haunting, black with white pupils and the fact that he was so close made him jump in his seat.

“I don't know if it's good that you're staring at me! I thought it was weird that I couldn't move, but this is different than any mission I've ever done before,” he glanced at the door out of paranoia. “Gotta check those windows and that door, then this monitor so they don't catch me. Are you still there, Accord?” He glanced at the camera again, only to find that the man seemed to have fallen asleep sitting at the piano.

“Hi, you're still there,” he flipped the camera back to the others. “Did you move? Okay you're still talking.” Hiroto moved the camera back to Accord out of the creeping paranoia that scaled his spine like a mountain. He was still asleep. “You don't move, either. Don't move nothing! I don't want to see your ass moving! I don't want to see anything!” The penguin commanded the tablet as he turned away from the security feed to go back to wiring the cameras again.

“Oh my god! This is terrifying. Why are there no curtains on these windows? Why do they have to kill the power?” He whined and checked the cameras again to see that Accord was now in the dining hall, eat something at one of the tables.

“Hi. Okay, you moved again. What are you going there?” He then remembered to check the other generals, who had moved closer to the hall that he resided in. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. The closer they got the more he panicked. “You're getting a little closer to me!”

Suddenly, the power surged and it caused the camera to flash to black. At this point, he lost it. The power had been cut and now he was going to die because he couldn't see them until they snuck up on him. A million thoughts raced through his head as he ran to the corner and screamed. “Oh no! Oh no! No no no! No! No, nonono! Hide! Hide! Get away from me!”

Clutching his tablet, he waited until the feed came back on to even dare to come out from behind that box. He wasn't going to risk being caught like that. No way in hell! The feed came back to show Accord standing in the room, in front of the piano. He tried to calm down his labored breathing as he stared into the screen of the tablet. He needed to calm down.

“Okay, you're over there. It's okay,” he tried to give himself confidence as he slowly crawled from behind the metal box and went back to the desk. “Why can't I even have enough power for proper lighting? Stay right there, you douchebag! You stay right damned there! God damn it!” He cursed and turned off the camera and went back to trying to alter the camera's feed. “This is the most terrifying shit I've ever been involved in. They're going to pop out on me!”

Hiroto checked the camera again, only to find that Accord has moved. “Oh god! He's gone!” The penguin could feel the adrenaline racing through his body as he rapidly tapped the camera in search for the shark. He soon found him back in the dining hall, drinking something. Maybe he went to get more wine? He didn't know. He didn't care. He just wanted Accord to stay in one place. “Okay, there he is. If he's just going to alternate between those two places, that's fine.”

Now, it was time to check on the other generals. Nothing much had changed about them. Symphony and Cristo were now seated in chairs and Topeka was standing behind them. He looked as if he was generally uninterested in what they were doing and more paid attention to playing games on his phone instead. “No one else is moving. I see where I am. You're not near me so, that's good. Just going to check now and then. I have to last for three days. Oh god! Am I going to have enough power? If I run out of power will they come and get me? What will they do to me?”

Thoughts infiltrated the penguin's head and the more he thought about his possible grim outcome, the more paranoid he got. He knew that he had to conserve power, but he couldn't help but to occasionally check the cameras. He was lucky he happened to fall through the floor or he would have been taken prisoner by that guard. Not to mention he had close calls before.

“You stay right there! Oh god, this is like…this is like…BAD!” Since Accord still had not moved, he decided to check the others. “They're still there. For now only one of them is moving around and that is that creepy Accord guy. Happy fun times with the bad guys! Happy fun land! Having such a wonderful time!”

Just as the penguin moved the camera back on Accord, the feed flickered to black again, causing a new wave of panic to surge through him. “Oh god! Where's he go? Oh god!” He then frantically switched it back and forth only to find that he never left the piano room. It seemed there was some kind of glitch in the feed. “Hi, okay, you stay right the eff there. I don't want to deal with you. I need to conserve power! Still there?” He checked the cameras again before a flood of what seemed like muffled music penetrated the walls of the room and leaked into his ears. “Okay, okay! I hear that! I hear that!” It caused him to check the camera again to see that it was only Accord. He decided to actually play the piano that he had spent all of that time sitting at.

Now Topeka and Symphony looked as if they were talking to each other. The two of them were really close to the door that led into the hallway that ran past him. He silently prayed that they didn't step out there. Whatever they were talking about, they needed to keep talking about. He hoped that it was a good conversation with them. Cristo was nowhere to be found. “Oh god! Where's the other one!?” Hiroto's voice was laced with fright as he continued to mercilessly tap at the screen and go through cameras. “Where is he!? Ugh!”

The penguin dove back behind the metal box and pulled his knees up to his chest and held the tablet close to his face as he clicked through rooms. “Where'd he go?” He went back to the room that Topeka and Symphony had been in, only to find that Topeka was now gone. They were staring to move, which made his heart slam against his sternum even harder. Hiroto felt as if he was going to have a panic attack.”Where are both of them?”

He finally found Topeka, standing in the hall and talking on a phone. If the shark turned towards him, he was screwed. “Hi, you're really close to me! Oh god, he's mot moving yet?” Hiroto continued to frantically check the cameras, only to find that Accord moved to the ballroom. “Okay, so I think I just need to stay in my corner for now,” he continued to check the cameras and still could not find Cristo. “Not okay! NOT OKAY! Are behind my window?”

The penguin peeked from behind his box only to find that no one was there. “No?” He then went back to checking his camera to see that Topeka was right in front of the camera talking on the phone. Hiroto nearly screamed. “Hi! Hi! Okay! Okay! I don't have much power left. Were the others still there? What am I gonna do? Ugh!” Hiroto turned back to the camera to see Topeka was still there, looming close to the camera lens. “Hi!”

He couldn't even go back to trying to wire the cameras correctly because he was so paranoid of everyone moving around. They all became super active and he felt as if he couldn't take his eyes off of them without the fear of being shanked at random by someone. “Oh, you moved again! Where? Where?” He glanced around the room to make sure that no one was in there with him. “What do I do? What do I do?”

Hiroto glanced over to the window to see that Accord was right outside of the left door. His eyes grew as big as saucers as he darted back behind the box. “Oh, you are right behind that door! What happens if I open the door?” He slowly put down the tablet and peeked around the box, boring a hole in the door as he stared it down, awaiting the inevitable. “I'm gonna run out of power! Oh, I'm gonna run outta power! Is he there? I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Agh! I got no power!”

If he wasn't under water, he would have been sweating bullets. Just then, the power went off and everything turned black. He was in the dark by himself with the head of the Deep Sea outside of his door, looming, just waiting for him to make a move. He couldn't see him make a move, either. There was no other option other than to wait and hope that he didn't get found out or attacked…or both.

“Agh! Oh no! Oh no! No nonononono! Oh nonononono! Oh god damn it! What are you gonna do to me when you find me? Oh fucking god!” Hiroto whispered to himself as he tried to keep his composure, but he could feel himself shaking form behind that box. There were footsteps that could be heard but he couldn't tell if they were getting closer or heading away from him. “Oh, do what you're gonna do already. Shut up. I don't care where you're going. I care where you're gonna be right now.”

Suddenly, the power came back on and the whirling of the fan sounded as a victory whistle. Hiroto relaxed and glanced around in relief. “Did I make it?” A smile spread across his face as he sighed in relief. “Yeah! Two more nights!”

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Soon the time had come, and the second night was upon him. Hiroto had managed to sleep somewhat peacefully behind that metal box so he didn't get caught. He still longed for the cushion of an actual bed, opposed to the cold, unmoving ground. The soft hum of the fan lolled him to sleep and it was a saving grace that no one had really come into that room. For the most part, no one had really come into the room and it remained widely unused.

He could see why that secret agent wanted him to stay in this room. It was the least likely place to even get caught by them, since they seemed to be in other places.

“Oh god, not again! Why did I do this stupid mission?” Hiroto knew what time it was and he really hated it. He was hardly ready to face another potential heart attack. He started off by checking the cameras, and it seemed like everyone was in their quarters today…or at least, for now.

The phone rang again, just like clockwork.

“Oh hi, hi again. Do you have any words of advice for me? What can I do for you?” Hiroto asked what would probably be another prerecorded voice. As he was zooming through the rooms, he came back to Accord's quarters only to realize that he was gone. His eyes widened as he held the tablet up to his face. “Oh no,” horror was steeped in his voice as he checked through the rooms even more. He eventually found him back in the dining hall.

“If you heard this and you made it through the first day, congrats,” the happy male voice intoned. It only made Hiroto feel more on edge. He merely laughed in an unstable manner. No words could describe the emotional roller coaster he was going on at this moment. “I won't talk for long. Cristo, Topeka, Accord and Symphony are usually pretty busy on this day.”

Hiroto froze and a look of dread crossed his visage. “What?”

“You should definitely check the cameras while I talk to you to make sure you still see them,” the voice reminded him and the penguin went to work on furiously tapping his screen.

“No!” Hiroto could already felt the paranoia creeping up his spine.

“Symphony doesn't usually come out of her quarters, but usually when she does it's towards the later hours of the night. The windows in this room let you see your blind spots. If you see them there, you can hide and they won't notice you,” the voice decided to give Hiroto a little friendly advice on how to possibly save his ass.

Hiroto continued to check the cameras as the voice spoke to him. He noticed that Accord was on the move again, but this time he was in the hallway, talking on his phone. “Ack!” The penguin squeaked. He hoped that Accord didn't come over by the door again.

“Also, check the Party Corner. Sometimes, Cristo likes to hang there,” the voice continued to give him pointers on who to watch for and why.

The penguin continued to check around rapidly until he came to an extreme close up on Accord's head. He was literally standing under the camera and it scared him so bad that he screamed and threw down his tablet.

“I'm sure you have things under control. Talk to you soon,” and with that, the voice signed out and left him on his own once again.

“Where's Party Corner?” Hiroto couldn't seem to find it no matter where he tapped. “Why do you have to leave me with this? Don't leave me like this!” He complained as he continued to check around.

Symphony was in her quarters, asleep in her bed. “Where's Topeka?” As he asked that question, he saw Topeka in the West Wing. “There's Topeka. Is Accord still there?” He continued to flip through the various rooms and finally found him where he was. “Yes! Yes still there! Very good! VERY GOOD!” He continued to tap on his screen and closely watch everyone's movements. “Oooooohhh! I don't like iiiiiittttt!” The penguin groaned. “Is he still there? I'm gonna-“

He was gone.

“Okay? We're okay? We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be totally fine! We're gonna be fine,” Hiroto tried to convince himself that nothing was wrong, but that was very quickly shattered by him finding Topeka in the dining hall.

“Hello,” he didn't like that at all. Then he found Symphony, still in her room. “Hello, sister. Where's the other guy? Where's the other guy? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where. Is. He?” Hiroto's voice got faster as he tried to desperately search for Cristo. He had forgotten to look for him since he was side tracked with Topeka and Accord.

After some searching, he found Cristo in the piano room. “Oh, there. He's-“ he cut himself off as he went back to checking on his sleeping sister. “Oh hiiiii….Hey sis, how are you? Okay,” he continued to check in the other rooms for any signs of movement. “Where's the other one? Where's the other one?” He went back to Topeka, who was enjoying a meal in the dining hall.

“Okay, I'm panicking! I am losing my shit right now! I am not okay with this-“ he cut himself off as he heard footsteps. When he glanced out of the window he immediately darted behind the box. Topeka was standing by the door, playing on his phone again. “Oh my god! He's right by the door!” His voice barely broke a whisper. “Hide! Gotta hide! Oh god I'm so dead!”

He glanced from the immediate threat to the camera to see his sister sitting up in bed reading and then he checked on Accord, who was fixing his nest of purple curled spikes in front of the camera. “I'm gonna…keep an eye on you,” he squinted at the tablet in a menacing fashion before he looked checked one of the hall cameras. Topeka didn't seem to be by the door anymore. “Where'd you go? Where'd you go? Okay, god this night is lasting forever.”

Just then, remembered he had a blind spot - the window. The penguin peeked from behind the box to see that the shark was looking directly into the window. It nearly gave him a heart attack. “Ah haha! This is NOT okay!” Hiroto whispered to himself as he sunk back into the corner as much as he could. At times like this, he was lucky that he was a short, small-framed person. It helped him hide better.

He looked back to his camera and saw that Symphony was still reading her book. He tried to calm the heavy breathing he was doing. Hiroto felt as if he was going to breathe so loud Topeka could hear him through the walls. Maybe if he ignored Topeka he would eventually go away…and not come into that room.

He could only hope.

“Okay, this one is-“ Hiroto started to speak, then saw that Accord had moved to the dining hall. “Hiiii….Is he there?”His thoughts trailed back to Topeka and he cautiously looked out from behind the box and hoped like hell he was gone.

To his shock, Topeka wasn't in the window anymore. Hiroto took his tablet and went back to checking the other cameras. “Okay, he's gone. Good! Stay gone. Forever, and ever, and ever and-“ He paused when he noticed Topeka hadn't moved that far away. He was just standing in the hall and appeared to be looking at some artwork that was hanging on the wall. “Oh god, you're coming back! Either that or you're leaving.”

Hiroto checked the cameras again, tapping through the rooms. “My butt is gonna be munched. I'm gonna be tortured…and they're gonna laugh. Where is he?” The penguin decided to check the window again and peeked out, only to find Topeka looming in the window again. He nearly screamed and slapped his hands over his mouth to prevent any noise from coming out. “Gah! They're up my ass! They're trying to stab me in the anus! Dooooooon't dick with me! I don't know what I'm trying to do here. That Topeka wants to get my ass, but he can't have it. Not today! Good thing my sister's staying in her rooommmm.”

As he was tapping through the rooms, he saw that Topeka had walked back down the hall a little, but he didn't trust that shit at all. “Wait…you were just outside of the window…” Hiroto's face twisted into bewilderment as he slowly peeked from behind the box again to see that no one was there. “Oh-kay,” he sighed the word out, “where's Accord? Damn it!”

The penguin crawled out from behind the boxes and went back to checking his cameras. There were only four of them, but they were so hard to keep track of! “No Accord there,” Hiroto mumbled to himself as he continued to scan through the rooms in search of that shark. He finally spied him in the West Wing. “Oh, hi Accord,” he finally put the tablet down and started to tinker with the wiring of the cameras. He had to get this done or he was going to just sit around and check those security cameras all day.

“God this is lasting so long! I just wanna go home! I never wanna come here again! I'll be a good boy! Damn it! As long as you two stay right there. You look good! You look very good!” As he continued to tinker with the wiring for a while, a sudden thought hit him and he froze in place. “Where is Cristo?” The penguin felt another wave of paranoia wash over him as he glanced around the room.

Quickly, he moved over to his tablet again and checked to see if he could find him. “Oh, where's Party Corner? I just gotta keep an eye on you guys,” he glanced back to the door and window, “gonna be fine!”

Tapping on the glass of his tablet again, he saw that Symphony was interested enough in her book to stay out. “You're still there,” he muttered to himself as he moved on to Accord, who was still fixing his long, dark purple hair in front of the camera. He went to check Party Corner again and Cristo was there, having a drink at the bar.

“Hi Party Corner man! Ugh!” He threw down the tablet and decided to go back to working on the wires of the cameras. “Oh man, I love doing this shit! It's my favorite!” Hiroto continued to work away at the wires as he complained and constantly glanced over his shoulder to make sure that no one was going to pop up and see him. He had to work fast and be on his toes so he could jump over to the other side of the room if he needed to in a jiffy.

After a few minutes of working, he went back to check on Cristo. For some reason he was really worried about that guy. Maybe it's because he'd just been moving around and not really doing much. Granted, his sister was acting in the same mannerism but she never left her room. Cristo was out and about.

As he went back to the camera, he noticed that Cristo was absent from the Party Corner. “What are you doing out of Party Corner?! Please! Get back in! I don't want you out here!” He started to feel that familiar anxiety weighing on his shoulders and his breath began to pick up again. “He's coming for me! Oh, he's coming for me. I have to watch three of them. I'm legit freaking out about this. I'm not okay with this. Oh god!” Hiroto began to check all of the rooms again. “They moved!”

Topeka was the first one to show up in the eye of the cameras. He was walking casually down the hall with his hands in his pockets. “Oh, you're coming down the hallway, huh?” Hiroto began to climb off of the desk and sink back towards that familiar corner he used as a hiding hole. No way was he going to get caught off guard by this creepy looking man.

Fuck this guy.

“Where are the rest?” Next he checked on Symphony who was still engrossed in her book. “You're still there.” Cristo was next, and he was still in Party Corner, listening to music that played softly. “Party Corner man. Hey, Party Corner man,” Hiroto spoke before he was silenced by a rustle. His body tensed up as he tapped around violently on his tablet again. “No! Nonono! Nooo! What's the sound?”

It had been Topeka, who was walking towards his window. The shark stopped just outside of his window and stood there, unmoving. “Oh, he's right there! Well, he's just here just yet. Oh the sounds, I don't like `em.”

As soon as he stopped complaining about the sounds, he heard Topeka's footsteps stop in front of the door and he darted back to the corner, carrying his tablet with him. “Fucking fuck! What the fucking fuck? Oh good lordy!” He hissed and shrunk as far down into the corner of the room as he could go and shook like a leaf. “Oh lalalalalalala! You got close real quick!” He peeked out and didn't even have to look for him because the shadow of his shoes could be seen from beneath the door with the angle of the lighting. “He's still there I can see his shadow.”

Suddenly, there was a flash of light, as if someone shone a flashlight into his eyes. It caused him to jump so bad that he almost dropped his tablet. Hiroto fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground. It would have been bad if he did, considering Topeka would have heard it and came in there to investigate. Why was that guy hanging around his door so much anyway? Did he know something was up?

“What was that?” The penguin questioned as he desperately tried to blink away the spots of light from his eyes. “You can't tell me that nothing happened. Is Topeka still there? Why doesn't he go screw himself? I can't deal with this. He's just going to stand there like a creep and use my power! Aw crap, this is not good. Well, this got off to a pleasant start, didn't it?” Hiroto peeked from behind the box to see that the shadow of the shark's shoes was still present. He gritted his teeth together in irritation and fear. “He's not leaving! Why is he not leaving? Oh god! He's gonna catch me because he's still there! Go away! Nobody likes you!” Hiroto whispered to himself, and then peeked out again. “He's still there. Why? Why is he still there? What do I do? What do I do? Oh, what do I do? I'm dead! I'm screwed! I'm so very screwed! He's not leaving. I'm dead! I'm so dead! He's gonna suck up my battery and then he's gonna find me and kill me. You son of a bitch! I hate you!”

The penguin sunk back into his corner and checked on the positions of the others. “Accord is still in the dining hall, so that's good but I can't keep losing power,” Hiroto said to himself as he heard Topeka's heels clacking across the tile floors and moving away from both him and door.

He glanced back over to the door and checked the window to make sure he was gone and sighed in relief. “Okay, now things are calming down and maybe you'll stop hanging around my good and let me breathe. Where are all of you?”

Hiroto began checking the cameras again. “I only see one of you. Accord just likes to stare into the camera. Where is he? Where the hell is he?” He tapped on the screen and eventually found Accord and Topeka. “Good, both of you are there,” he opened his mouth to talk more but then heard a violent banging that caused him to jump. His heart sped up its pace again and he glanced wildly around the room.

“I hear that! I hear that!” His widened eyes went back to the screen as he tapped through the rooms again. “Where did you go?”

He couldn't find Topeka.

“No!” He looked to the windows, but nothing was there. “Oh god! Noo!” Topeka was spotted, leaning against a wall but he couldn't find Accord. “There's one, but where is the other? God damn this place freaks me the eff out! This is not okay! Is one of them in the room with no camera? Is that what that sound is?”

Hiroto actually wondered why there was a room with no camera. What was in that room? What happened in that room? Was it a torture room? Was that why there was banging? Even so, he would have thought that the room have a camera to watch prisoners. He imagined that they didn't want to see them escape.

It was so weird.

Maybe he didn't want to know.

When he glanced up from the tablet his eyes widened and he shot back to the corner of the room again. Topeka was staring in the window. “Ugh! Ah! It's a thingy! Thing in there! Gotta hide! You son of a bitch! You need to settle the eff down because I don't have enough battery life for this. You son of a bitch. You there anymore?”

He cautiously peeked from behind the boxes and saw no one at his window, then he checked the door but no one was standing there, either. “Ugh! You assholes!”

Hiroto glanced back at his cameras and lost track of Accord once again. “Where's you go? Where'd you go?” He began to freak out again, but soon found Accord looming close to another camera, except this time he was turned with his back towards it. “Ewwww, why are you so close? Why? I can't waste any more battery! I hate this place!” Hiroto began to whine. “I'm a baaaaby! I'm a big baby! How did I get this crap mission? I should have stayed in the arctic!”

After checking the cameras again, he saw that he once again lost sight of Accord. He took his eyes off of him for five minutes and he was gone. “Where's Accord? Where is Accord? At least Party Corner man is-“ He cut himself off as he glanced over his tablet to see Topeka looming in his window again.

“Fucking Crimeny Christmas! Son of a bitch with your creepy ass eyes, can you nooooottt? I had been hiding nearly the whole night!” He stuck his head out again, but Topeka hadn't moved and this time it seemed like he was staring directly into the room. “He's still there. Uuuuuuuuugggghhhhh! Can't deal! Can't deal. Can't deal,” his nerves were wearing thin as he continued to check the cameras, then he glanced to the window. “You gone yet?”

Topeka was unmoving.

“Nope, still there,” Hiroto was beginning to get irritated, “because what would the party be without my good friend Topeka? And Mr. Happy Fuck. Mr. Accord-a-smack. Oh, what am I supposed to do?” He continued to check the cameras until he heard footsteps again.

After a few moments, he decided to check the window again. “Good, he's gone,” Hiroto felt a weight come off of his shoulders but he knew that he wasn't out of the clear just yet. “I'm dead. I'm dead,” he repeated the phrase a few more times before he checked around and saw Cristo dancing in Party Corner. “Hi! Welcome to the party, friend! Please tell me you're not gonna kill me! I'd really rather not.”

He sat down the tablet and saw a familiar silhouette in the window. A shark with shoulder-length straight hair that was cut across and bangs cut in a similar fashion. Glaring dark blue eyes met his and a toothy grin surfaced on the shark's face.

It was Topeka.

“Oh god!” He squeaked and poked his head back into his hiding place. “I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die,” his eyes glanced down to check the battery life on his tablet. “Five percent are you kidding me? Please leave! I can't even look at the camera now. Now, I'm at one percent! Ugh! I hate it! Oh! I'm so dead! Oh so dead! Hold out just a little longer! Ugh! Turn on the power! Turn it on! Don't rip my guts out! Oh come on! Power! I'm gonna die.”

Then everything went dark.

“I'm dead.”

It was only he and Topeka, staring through his window.

This was it.

This was the end.

He was going to die here, and he knew that the shark had made eye contact with his at least once.

“Fuck.”

…To Be Continued