The Kill Box

“So, Mr…Platform, is it?” Blaze asked.

“Yes, I’m here; what do you want?” he responded with a sigh.

“Yes, we’re conducting interviews of local residents concerning the disappearance of Lyra Heartstrings. If it’s alright with you, we would like to come in to ask a few questions.”

“Yea, sure,” Platform gestured them in, “I have some time before work.”

Walking into the apartment, they all took a seat down on the couches in Platform’s living room. Shining was the first to speak, “So, Mr. Platform, do you recollect what you were doing on the night of the 8th of Nieghtember?”

Platform scratched his chin, “I do believe that I was working late, coding the menus for the next OS update; boss wanted ‘em done for a launch 15th.”

As Blaze wrote down Platform’s response, Shining followed up with another question, “Do you remember meeting, talking with, or seeing Lyra Heartstrings that night?”

“Yes, I do. I remember that I was in a little bit of a block in the coding process; guys at the art department hadn’t sent me the latest menu sketches yet, and I was looking out my window into the sky, when I saw her walk below in the alley. She was carrying a couple of briefcases; not sure what was in them though. She dropped one, and I called out if she needed help from my window. I went down to help, and once she had everything together again, she went on her way.”

Shining paused for a moment, “How did you get down to the bottom floor so fast?”

Platform pointed to the window, “Fire escape is the easiest way down when you’re in a hurry.”

Just as Shining was about to follow up with another question, he was cut off at the sound of an alarm originating from Platform’s bedroom.

“Ah, that would be my boss. I’m terribly sorry lads, but that’s my cue to get to work. So if you’re all quite done; I need to ask you to leave.”

Quickly ushering the duo out of his apartment, Platform tipped them an invisible hat on their way out the door. Slamming it behind them, he ran into the bedroom, grabbed his beer from where he left it earlier, and yanked the lever once again to reveal his computer. Taking a swig from the now half-empty bottle, he booted up and after a rushed diagnostics check, viewed Twilight’s progress through his maze.

“Alright princess. Let’s see what you do with THIS!”

Another swig, another breath, and another switch was flipped.

And then all hell broke loose.

The two officers faced the door to Platform’s apartment, looking once at the door, once at the door number, and once at each other.

“We both realize that he’s bullshitting us, right?” Blaze asked.

Shining nodded, “No way in hell that a boss would call an employee at 11:30 to get to work.”

“I’ll get the tech boys to place a tap on the apartment; maybe they’ll come up with something that we didn’t.”

As Blaze goes to leave, Shining grabs his shoulder to stop him, “Make sure that they monitor everything that goes in and out of that room. Something feels off about that man, and anything that gives even the smallest clue could lead to something bigger.”

Blaze nods and heads back to the cruiser, and Shining moves to knock on the next door down the hall. “Hello, I’m investigating the disappearance of Lyra Heartstrings. Is it OK if I come in and ask you a few questions?”

Twilight didn’t mean to trip the alarm. It just went off as she passed the 2nd ring of walls in the maze. Panicking from not knowing what the sound meant, she ran without thinking into what she thought was the right path. Now she was stuck; trapped between 3 walls of steel, and the formidable wall of circular saws that blocked her path. Sitting in a silent state of moping, she curled up into a ball, thinking that she’d never get out of there. Forever trapped, quite literally, between a rock and a hard place. Then the loudspeaker came on.

Oh Twilight…gotten us stuck in a hole now have we? The claustrophobia kicking in yet? Probably; but let’s not think about that now. I’ll give you this one free chance…juuuuuust try to not die, and I’ll reward you!

Then everything went to hell.

The circular saws that were previously closing behind her started to rise and fall erratically at random intervals. In fact, all of the ceiling parts opened up, the saws coming down on all of the tiles, even the ones she hadn’t passed yet. The only one that was still open was the one in the center, where the key was.

Twilight started screaming at what she thought was her demise, “OHHHHHHHHH SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!”

Running as fast she could, she quickly ducked under the one in front of her, and ran past the next 2 in the row. Jumping over the next one, ducking under another, and frantically screaming her lungs hoarse, Twilight somehow made it to the entrance to the inner circle, right before the key room.

It was at this time that Twilight realized that she would have to jump over another two saws to progress…and that saws were coming out of the floor. This only served to send her panic into ever rising heights, as she now realized that CIRCURLAR SAWs WERE RISING OUT OF THE FLOOR!

Taking the envelope out of her pocket, she quickly swallowed some of the powder inside. Feeling the sudden rush of ingesting pure magic, Twilight’s eyes lightly glowed with power. She easily made the easy jump over the saws in the floor, just as the ceiling behind her caved in, and she bolted for the exit. The jumping and ducking becoming almost second nature to her, she started to calm as she realized that she might have a chance of getting out of there alive.

The smile that briefly flashed across her face was quickly wiped and replaced with a yelp of pain as her right arm was lightly slashed. Snapping her head to see what nicked her, she found a small, barely 3 inches in diameter, saw coming out of the wall she was next to.

“HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSIBLE?!” Twilight screamed.

Her brain went into temporary shut-down as she attempted to comprehend how a saw could fit inside of a wall, that was also moving around. Though that was banished too, as a loud buzzing right next to her ears reminded that she was painfully reminded that she was still in a life and death scenario.

“Right..just…think later, focus on living now.” She huffed out.

Once again going into a light panic as to how she was going to stay alive, she resumed to her running and dodging. “Just (huff) gotta get (puff) to the (pant) KEY!” Twilight yelled out.

Looking at what was ahead of her and behind her, she had a slight migraine as to how she was progressing so well, “WHY THE FUCK IS THIS SUDDENLY SO HARD!” Twilight screamed.

Oh is pwitty wittle Twily having a hard time?

“JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

Attempting to focus more than ever on what had to be done, Twilight skillfully made it to the final leg of the maze. Running as hard as she could, she slid on her knees the whole rest of the way into where the key was just as the saws came down on top of the entrance. Losing a part her hair in her dramatic entrance, she stood up, only to be cornered by a host of ceiling saws converging in on the center.

Twilight ran to the center, yelling out to the man behind it all, “HEY! I made it to the key! Turn off the saws now!”

Getting nervous at the lack of response, she picked up the key and held it close to her chest as if it would protect her. Backing up and pressing her back into the podium in the center, she nearly lost her footing and fell into the saws that were slowly getting closer and louder, when the center collapsed into the floor. Looking up into the ceiling once more, she saw one lone saw going right down on top of her head. Her body going into a massive panic, she started screaming for The Caretaker to deactivate the machine.

Oh no! Twilight is getting trapped by saws on all sides! What ever shall she do?

Her face contorting into one of anger, her fist was consumed by fire. “I’m getting really tempted to burn that camera off of the wall!”

Oh don’t do that please, I paid good money for these cameras.

Twilight grit her teeth and looked up at the saw above her head. “Well here goes nothing…”

She quickly hurled the fireball at the saw. Seeing that the fire had done some damage to the externals of the blade, she fired volley after volley into the blade until she felt like she could go no further. Exhausted, she collapsed to one knee, but when looking up, she saw that the entire front half of the saw body had melted or fallen off, revealing a key hole.

Twilight’s eyes opened in realization, and with the last of her strength, forced the key she held into the lock and turned. And just as the key was turned, the buzzing from the saws stopped, and the saws themselves came to a stop. Just in time as well, as one blade came directly into her cleavage, tearing her shirt a little, and signifying that a second later, and she’d be dead.

…and I can’t decide whether you should live or die— OH! You did it! Well congratulations Twilight! Now as your reward I’ll give you 2 things. One, knowledge! The knowledge that your family is looking for you! In fact, Shining has just visited me, inquiring if I knew anything about Lyra Heartstrings! I of course said nothing incriminating, but I’m sure that they’re suspicious of me by now…

At the Caretaker’s words, Twilight bore a relieved smile on her face, a triumphant look in her eyes, and tears of joy leaking down her face.

Don’t even think for a second that I don’t see those tears on your face Twilight, I know for a fact that your boyfriend—Flash is it?—is on the same unit as your brother. So let’s try our hardest to give them a corpse to help cheer them up, huh?

As this monologue was finished, a panel on the wall fell away, and 2 cages came out of the opening. One held a mare with a white coat and mane with red highlights, and the other held a blue coated stallion with a yellow mane, both Pegasus’. They had very fearful looks in their eyes, and they looked a little starved.

And here’s your other reward! My, aren’t they fetching! The rules are simple, one lives, and one dies, though who gets which event is up to you Twilight. Just use the revolver I know you have in your pocket to make your decision. Make it soon, and HAVE FUN!

The PA clicked off once again, and Twilight looked at the caged, and vice versa. An eerie a silence filled the room as the 2 sides stared the other down.

“Well shit.”