Chris Huisjen

46 - The [Escape Room]

Added 2023-08-27 21:56:43 +0000 UTC

First color first, then second last,

Fifth third, third fifth, fourth stands steadfast,

Seventh comes after its mother and before its father,

And sixth is second to last still, the first and fifth’s daughter.

“Red is first, then violet because blue and red make violet and violet’s their kid,” I said. We’d been puzzling for a while—I’d have killed for a paper and pen—but we almost had it. “Blue is next because fifth is third. Green stays at fourth, then yellow is fifth. Sixth stays sixth, and orange, the second, is last. So, red. Violet. Blue. Green. Yellow. Indigo. Orange.”

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

As I listed the colors, Fursona pulled on the books. When they’d finished, a black book popped out of the wall. I let out a long-held breath. Neither of us knew how many times we could fail before the ceiling cracked or what would happen if it did. ‘You’re Super-Suited’ was a little league Episode, so it couldn’t be death—could it?

Fursona picked up the book and opened it quickly, but they didn’t have time to read anything before the bookshelf raised off the floor. “A secret passage! This is just like the videos my parents showed me,” they said.

The secret passage didn’t lead out. Not even close. Instead, it led to another room. One wall was covered in clocks with different times; Tokyexico’s clock was clearly labeled, and so were Yorkston’s and San London’s. The fourth had no label; below it was written ‘The Clocks Hold The Key’ in red ink.

“What does that mean?” I asked. I rolled a strand of hair between my finger and thumb. No matter what I did, I couldn’t stand still; the massive figures of Flare and Lady Lockless had started to move, and Flare’s droning voice had been replaced with a slightly-higher buzz. They were leaving. We had to hurry.

“It means we need to take a deep breath,” Fursona said. “There’s a solution to every escape room. It’s got something to do with these clocks—and this book.”

We glanced at the clock again; unlike the others, two brass knobs stuck out of the side. When I twisted one, the clock’s hour hand changed. The other obviously had to control the minute hand, which meant figuring out what time to put in was the answer. So we just had to figure out what the correct time was.

“Check the book?” Fursona asked.

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” They fiddled with the black-covered book. “Most of the pages are glued together. There’s only one we can open to, and there’s an empty cut-out like it was supposed to hide something.”

That couldn’t be right. “Did escape rooms try to hide the answer somewhere the players wouldn’t look? Like, the colored boxes or the kitchen counter?”

“Yes, but not in a situation like this. We might have to go back for those, or they might be different routes through the puzzle, but we should have everything we need.”

I puzzled for a while as the gigantic figures looming over us kept moving. “How about the page numbers? Could they be times?”

“2:28 and 2:29.”

I tried them both. Neither worked, and the ceiling cracked just a little more each time. “[Beep]! Fursona, we can’t let them get away!” I started to slam my hand into the wall, but the camera drone was watching. Magical Girl Understudy didn’t lose control. She couldn’t; too much was at stake. I sucked in another breath.

[Rating Warning #2! Episode Rating - PG! Censor in Effect]

“Relax, Understudy. We’re going with them, aren’t we?” Fursona said. Sure enough, the glass rooms kept pace with the enormous supervillains. Fursona shrugged. “Why don’t we try adding them together? That’d be 4:57.”

I put the number in, and all four clocks started spinning. When all the hands were on the six, another door opened in the glass wall. This one led to a gorgeous, luxurious dining room with three tables. Each had a menu at the center.

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

“See!” Fursona practically bounced, they were so excited. “I told you we’d need to go back. Let’s see…this one wants a Cobb salad.”

“And this one’s ordered a Ceasar. One of us is the chef, and one’s the waiter, huh?”

“Oh, I call waitressing!” Fursona said. They dashed to the last table. “This one’s a standard house salad. Get to work, Chef Understudy.”

“Gourmet would love this crap, I bet,” I grumbled as the camera drone followed me back through the clock room and over to the kitchen counter. “I’m making saladsin an Episode. What has my career come to?”

The Ceasar was easy; pile up the lettuce, toss on cheese, dressing, and croutons, and wait for the Justice-Roo to take it away. The house took a little more effort. I’d never been much for slicing tomatoes. They squished under the knife every time, and finishing it took a frustratingly long time. Fursona tapped their paw on the ground the whole time, and the two supervillains kept moving.

And as for the Cobb, it took so long that Fursona started plating it as I cut. I could only imagine what’d happen if we messed it up, and it had so many stupidly-unneeded ingredients. But at last, Fursona bounded off with it. I groaned and followed them; how many more stupid games would we have to do?

Fursona bounded back toward me before I even got to the dining room. They held a sheet of greenish paper in their hand. “I got a tip!”

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

“You got paid? This is ridiculous! There wasn’t even anyone at the tables!”

“No, a tip. I mean, it’s on a dollar bill, but it’s a clue. We need to check out the purple box. It’s got the next puzzle or something.” They showed me the dollar bill with a purple key drawn on it. “Let’s go!”

“Hopefully this is the last one,” I grumbled.

Fursona tried to open the purple box as soon as we arrived, but it wouldn’t budge. “Try the key,” I said, pointing at a tiny, drawn-on lock on the box’s lid.

“Oh. The drawing?” Fursona asked. I shrugged. Everything else about this place was just a weird delaying tactic. Why not the lock too?

They set the dollar bill next to the lock, then tried again. The box popped open, revealing a can of ‘4th Wall B-Gone.’ I grabbed it. “I guess we spray it on the empty wall? And then what? This keeps going forever?”

“I hope not,” Fursona said, shuddering. “Most safe rooms lasted an hour, but this one’s probably much faster.”

“Alright, here goes nothing.” I sprayed the can onto the wall, then stepped out of the hole it made, feeling a lot like Livestream doing the same with frames in the comic books. As I did, my vision contracted again, collapsing into a pinprick.

◄▼►

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

My vision cleared. Lady Lockless stared at me, speechless, just two feet away. I could literally reach out and touch her. Flare stood next to her, and Fursona cracked their knuckles behind him. Not one but two camera drones hovered inches away from us.

And one very, very unhappy teaching assistant stood by the buttons on the elevator, fidgeting and eying the emergency stop.

“Who’s going first?” Fursona asked.

“I’d like to get out,” Lady Lockless replied.

The teaching assistant cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. “Me too.”

I didn’t say anything for a second. I just grinned. This Episode ended here. Unless Flare had a lot of juice left, we’d won. “Let’s get started. [Spotlight Strike]!”

Everyone moved at once. Flare jerked backward, slamming his head into Fursona’s face. They kicked out and caught him in the back of the knee. I punched Lockless, who reeled back but trapped my arm with her cane. And the teaching assistant ducked and covered his head.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Double Damage! +1 Badass Point Pending]

I yanked on my arm, but Lockless had it pinned. The key on her cane’s tip glowed as she poked it into my bicep. The pain ripped up my arm and into my shoulder. I bit my tongue from the sensation—like fire and ice simultaneously—and jerked and flailed until I knocked the cane away.

[HP 2/7]

Lady Lockless stumbled back into the elevator’s corner. I needed to pressure her, but the glowing key was a threat. I shook my head. She was a minor league villain; even if she was a pushover compared to her peers, she was still dangerous to me. I wanted to [Flickerform]. One [Ride the Lightning] would end the fight against Lady Lockless and give Fursona the edge on their brawl.

If I could use [Ride the Lightning] again, I would have by now. But Rainy Day wasn’t an option.

The elevator jerked to a stop. Flare and Fursona careened through the center into the doors. A moment later, they popped open. The teaching assistant ducked out as an alarm went off; he’d gotten a hold of the emergency stop button.

Lockless tried to follow him, but a drone got a full shot of my sidekick’s tail tripping her. I waved my wand for a [Stellar Ray]. It caught her as she went to stand up, slamming her back into the carpeted floor.

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Stellar Ray] didn’t do double damage, but even without it, Lady Lockless looked exhausted. She couldn’t have many more points of superhero damage left.

She got to her feet and started running down the hall. I looked back at Fursona. “You okay?”

The kangaroo grunted and punched Flare. “Just go!” They rolled. Flare got free from the Justice-Roo’s paws and hands for a second. He made it three steps—not enough time to get moving. Then Fursona tackled him again.

They had Flare under control. I took off after Lady Lockless. The teaching assistant had ducked into an office. He poked his head out, pointed quickly at the stairwell, and slammed the door shut.

“Thanks!” I yelled. I ran faster and slammed the door open.

Lady Lockless picked her way down the stairs, her ballgown skirts hiked up with one hand while the other held on to her cane. I threw myself off the landing and landed in front of her. “Surrender, Lady Lockless. You can still make up for what you’ve done here!”

“What do you think I’ve done here?” Lady Lockless laughed, but she didn’t move to run away. Instead, she dropped her cane and sat down on the stairwell.

“I don’t know. You must’ve had some reason to break into the Speech and Debate Department’s offices.”

“Promise you won’t tell? It’d destroy someone’s reputation,” Lady Lockless grinned wickedly.

“Of course.”

She leaned forward. “Monologue’s failing Intro to Speech. Again.”

“No way!”

“Yeah. He can’t get through his ‘About Me’ speech without [Monologue] stunning the audience, which means his professor can’t grade it. It’d also out him as a supervillain, and that’d be bad news for everyone. He hired me to hack—he said ‘unlock’—the professor’s grade sheet and fix that grade for him. If he fails speech again, it’ll ruin him.”

“That’s it?” All of this had been…because of that? I shook my head as Fursona dragged a thoroughly beaten-up Flare down the stairwell.

“You can’t tell anyone!” Lady Lockless told me. “No one else knows, and Monologue will know it’s me if you talk.”

“Not a word, but you need to learn that crime doesn’t unlock doors of opportunity!” I waited for the Episode to end. The camera drone hovered in my face, catching my victorious pose.

The Episode didn’t end.

“Uh, Understudy? It’s not “Lady Lockless Breaks into Beaumont,’ it’s ‘You’re Super-Suited,’” Fursona said.

“Right,” I said, clearing my throat. Maybe Rocko could edit it into a stand-alone Short or something. “You two, come with us. I still need an internship!”

[End of Act Two! Act Three in Five Minutes!]

[Alias - Understudy] [Archetype - Magical Girl] [Community Rank - 473/523]

[HP 2/7]

[Styles and Skills]

►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence

►Badass (lvl 0; 38)

►Cunning (lvl 2; 28)

► Inkling 1

►Drama (lvl 3; 39)

► Stellar Ray 1

►Flamboyance (lvl 3; 9)

►Signature Skill - Adaptive Armoire