Haunted House GP

[londoncallingmods]

 The house doesn't exist, that's the first thing anyone who might find themselves inside it would want to know. Now, you might ask how one could find themselves inside something that doesn't exist, but you'd honestly be better off asking yourself how you could leave something that doesn't exist. After all, ideas and concepts can't be burnt or broken, and you can't breakdown a door that's not there- Or was there and then decided to be somewhere else for a while...

 

You wake in a house though, a house that doesn't exist. A house that defies the laws of reality. There are corridors that go on for days, rooms full of nightmares, and millions of doors that lead you anywhere but out. Trapped inside with you are dozens of other people, all searching for an exit, or an explanation.

 

Behind every door you'll find your darkest fears, maybe even memories you've tried to forget, or secrets you never wanted to share... 

 

(OTA! Here is your first of two Halloween gps! This one is, of course, set in the haunted house where your pup can run into anything you can dream up! Deadly traps! Spooky monsters! An existential crises! Top level your pups waking up or running into danger, and then go ahead and tag other players! Since this is all magic-y and spooky don't worry too much about time lines and who bumped into who first. Only rule is that your pup can't escape until November 1st! Have fun! Also, because there are two GPs going up this week, both are open to new top levels for two whole weeks! And, of course, you can keep tagging long after that if you want. :D I'll post reminders daily on slack.)

Comments

[hardertohide]

"Well, it was just unpleasant, right?" she asked, and yanked another cable out, grabbing it way off of the tower, instead of plugging it out the usual way. She got a jolt of her own anyway, shaking her hand out as she dropped it. "Okay, very unpleasant." And probably not helping the lingering headache.

[quartermaster_q]

"Unpleasant is a word for it- So is searing pain," Q replied dryly, looking as though he might say something more, then falling silent as his gaze landed on something near the back of the room.

"Was that here when we came in?" he asked, pointing at what looked like a digital clock- Except it wasn't telling the time. It was counting down from one hour and thirty nine minutes. ...Make that thirty eight.

[hardertohide]

"Not that I noticed," Dutch frowned, walking over. "I don't much like the sound of a countdown." Countdown to what?

[quartermaster_q]

"In my experience? Rarely anything good. ...Though who knows, perhaps confetti will fall from the ceiling and we'll find ourselves surrounded by kittens. That would be nice," he quipped, chuckling at his own little joke.

"Much more likely we'll explode though."

[hardertohide]

"Whether it's kittens or an explosion, I'd rather not be here by the time it runs down," Dutch noted with a purse of her lips.

[quartermaster_q]

"No. ...Well, perhaps if I was sure it was just kittens, but- Hmm. I suppose we could try and trace the wires," Q suggested, moving to open the door behind it, and frowning when he found it was locked.

"Shit," he muttered quietly. "Shit, shit, shit... Try the door we came in through," he said, looking to see if there was any way to bypass the lock on this door, and trying to ignore the panic that settled in his gut as he considered the possibility that they were locked in here.

[hardertohide]

Dutch strode over to the other door and cursed under her breath when she found it locked, too. "Alright, then." She picked up the sword he'd come in with. "I really wish I still had the axe." The axe was made for this. The sword would likely take longer. "How sturdy does your door look?"

[quartermaster_q]

"Stainless steel, heavy locking system- Not easily broken through," Q said, glancing at the countdown again, then looking back at Dutch.

[hardertohide]

"This one it is, then," Dutch stated, and began to hack at the wood around the lock. It was a long, exhausting affair, but eventually, she got through enough to see that there was nothing but a wall of bricks on the other side. "You're shitting me." She threw the sword to the floor in frustration.

[quartermaster_q]

Q began to search the walls for hidden panels, phone lines, anything. Though it soon became clear that this room was little more than a cage- And the servers merely there to lure them in.

Standing in the middle of the room, his gaze fell onto the countdown again.

"James will come," he said. "It's fine, this is fine. I just need to activate my tracker, and he'll come," he said, speaking to Dutch even though it sounded like he was reassuring himself as well.

[hardertohide]

"Toto, I don't think we're in bloody Kansas anymore," Dutch snapped, although her anger was very much directed at the situation, rather than at him.

[quartermaster_q]

"It doesn't matter!" Q snapped in return, looking startled by his own anger, then taking a calming breath. "It doesn't matter. He'll come. He always comes. He'd never let anything happen to me, Dutch. He wouldn't let me die like this."

[hardertohide]

"He's all powerful, then, is he?" Dutch retorted, and walked back to the chair to drop in it and turn back to her computer. There had to be something they could do.

[quartermaster_q]

"No, but he is unstoppable," Q replied, resting his hand on one of the towers, then frowning when he realized this one wasn't running.

It was tall, nearly as tall as he was. They all were, actually, and he eyed it curiously, before glancing over at Dutch.

"This one's not on," he said, searching for the access panel, and bracing himself as he anticipated being shocked again. ...No shock came though, and he managed to pop open the panel with only a bit of effort, surprised by the sudden wave of cold that hit him.

"Why on Earth is this one so..."

He fell silent instantly, his eyes locked on what had been locked inside. Not a machine, not a system- But a frozen corpse, with piercing blue eyes that Q knew too well.

"No," he said quietly.

[hardertohide]

Dutch had turned her attention back to him when she heard the noise of him popping open the panel, and now she stood and stepped closer to him. "What's..." She trailed off as she saw what was inside the tower. The fucking corpse inside the tower. "What the..."

[quartermaster_q]

Q said nothing, staring until he couldn't stand to look any longer.

He couldn't close the man's eyes, and so he offered the only dignity he could. He closed the tower again, walking away from Dutch and away from the casing that now held his dead lover.

He barely let out a breath, completely silent- Until his fist made contact with the solid metal door.

It was hard to say what was louder, the echo of bone against metal, or the anguished cry Q let out. His shoulders shook, but he didn't cry. Instead he simply wilted, leaning back against the door as he sank to the floor.

"I suppose we should be thankful. At least it'll be quick," he said finally.

[hardertohide]

Dutch watched him with confusion at first, before comprehension finally dawned on her. When he spoke, she didn't say anything at first. She just walked over and sat beside him, knees bent, hands on her legs. "I'm sorry," she said, simply and honestly.

She wasn't sure this was the real James - she assumed it looked like James - not given everything they'd seen so far. Why would this be any more real than the rest of it? But it must still be awful for him to have seen that body, so yeah, she was sorry.

[quartermaster_q]

Q said nothing for a long moment, taking off his glasses and using his shirt to clean the lenses.

"It's not real," he said quietly. "We've agreed on that already. It's not real- So it's fine. I'm fine," he lied, not wanting to admit how many times he'd seen those empty and unblinking eyes in his nightmares.

"Even if this is all madness or fiction though- Part of me still expected... He always comes through. He's a drunk and a bastard, and honestly the most irresponsible and ridiculous agent I've ever worked with- But he always comes through. Always."

[hardertohide]

"Well, this isn't real," Dutch repeated. This wasn't real, and they weren't going to die. Right. Her bloody migraine felt real enough. "Don't tell me this is your first nightmare where he doesn't come through."

[quartermaster_q]

"It's the first time It's not been enough to wake me," Q replied, wrapping his arms around his knees and hugging them to his chest.

"If this is my nightmare, it seems unfair that you'd die with me. You don't deserve this."

[hardertohide]

"If this is your nightmare, I'm not real either," Dutch pointed out, leaning her head back against the wall and watching the countdown. "I feel quite real, but then I'd say that, wouldn't I."

[quartermaster_q]

"You're real," Q said quietly. "I don't know how, but you are. ...Nightmares don't have secrets."

[hardertohide]

Dutch huffed out a dry chuckle, then went quiet for a few seconds. "I did some work for Silva, once. Ages ago."

[quartermaster_q]

Q was silent for a long moment, then nodded. "I had a feeling you might have," he admitted, staring at the tower that Held Bond's body, the closing his eyes and resting his head against the cold steel door.

"Do you regret it?" he asked.

[hardertohide]

"It was a job, and I did it," Dutch replied. She wasn't going to start thinking of regrets, just because there was a countdown staring them down, and almost certain death at the end of it.