Soaked from the rain, the group had finally managed to get back to the base completely fine. Well.. mostly. Pillow had been left behind, and Blackhole felt awful about it. But in the end, she was dead. He couldn't do anything but spare them from the moment. He wanted to protect them from ..what he saw. Nobody should have to see that. He didn't want to have to see it, so made sure they didn't have to.

Once they were inside, the other half of the group came downstairs to greet them. A lot of them were relieved and happy they were okay.. their expressions of comfort was easily read.

"B-BLOCKY! YOU'RE OKAY!-" Pen cried out, running up to him and hugging him roughly "I-I was so worried-," he whined, Blocky weakly smiling and going to hug him back. Pen was wincing a little due to the rain "J-Jeez.. your body is soaking.." he went to let go.

Golfball grunted and shook herself off, spraying water around. "There were no problems while we were out, hm?" She went to work on getting the doors shut, walking up to the panel.

Jr shook his head, crossing his arms. "Nuh uh. She's still there." He smirked, approaching Bomby, looking up at him and examining him dripping off with rain. "Jeez.. got caught up in the storm, huh?"

"Ah.. yeah.."

Lollipop suspiciously observed them all. This made Blackhole nervous, as he awkwardly turned to the side in an attempt to start to head off. He knew that SHE knew something was wrong. She had probably noticed the absence of Pillow.

He didn't want to be there when they found out. And he didn't want to explain either.

Woody shuffled up to Blocky and tugged on his arm, Blocky glancing to him with a raised eyebrow. He looked away as he realised what he wanted. He wanted them to tell everyone about Pillow.

"Soo ..did you guys find anything?" Lightning curiously asked, shyly smiling at them in hopes of a nice reply. However they didn't reply. "Hellooo? Am I just here to be ignored all the time..?"

"Hang on.." Lollipop put her hand on her waist, squinting and observing them all as she walked up to them slowly. Their gaze was focused on her as she approached them, the only sound being her walking. Something.. was missing. "..Where's Pillow?"

Silence. Of course.. this was the part that was going to be difficult. Explaining why in the world they left her out there. Blocky parted from Woody and crossed his arms, looking to Blackhole as he was floating off. "Well.."

Blackhole stopped. He turned to them to watch, feeling bad. He couldn't run from this.. accepting the blame would hurt too much, though.

"..There ..um.. was some complications.." Bomby muttered ".. She..got lost..."

"Got LOST?!" Fanny snapped suddenly, making him flinch  "How in the world did she just get LOST?? Wasn't you keeping an eye on her?!" She yelled.

"Is this..true?" Pen asked..nervous "B-Blackhole! How could you leave her!- we promised we would protect each other-!"

Pen Blackhole and Pillow had been an original group. They had went through a lot together and swore to be there for one another. So..for Blackhole to return without her was.. shocking.

"Are you kidding me??" Jr looked at all of them "This isn't just a joke?? You just.. left her?!"

"We didn't have a choice!! She wondered off, and that was her own fault." Golfball replied firmly, confident in her opinion.

"She didn't know any better! She's like Lightning, but not as bad!" Fanny snapped back.

"Can you guys stop insulting me-??"

"This isn't right." 8-ball frowned  at Blackhole, unamused " ..You are closest to her. Why would you allow her to wonder off and not be looked for? You cared for her."

"We all did." Lollipop continued, a little sour "..I'm disappointed in all of you. How could you do such a thing? It ..hurts. What if that was me out there? Would you leave me too?"

Blocky shook his head "No-, No! Of course not! The situation was hard!" He defended angrily, gripping his hand into a fist "I didn't WANT to leave! I wanted to look for her, jeez!"

"That was the decision we made! We can't change that now, can we?? Maybe she'll find her way back." Golfball retorted, frustrated by all the arguing.

"You think she's going to find her way back here?? She can't even find her way to the door!" Jr raged, stamping his foot down "Seriously! We are a team! We can't just leave each other to die! If you had left Bomby out there, I'd be so fucking pissed!"

"We didn't HAVE a choice. We had to leave." Golfball reminded, speaking slower and more passive aggressive, gritting her teeth.

"That's it-" Pen moved away from Blocky, walking to the doors "I'm going to go look for her."

"What-?" Blocky turned around "Wha..no! Don't do that! You'll get lost, or-"

"What else am I supposed to do Blocky??- She's OUT there somewhere!" He cried "I don't..know why your group just left her but we need to get her back-"

Blackhole didn't want him to leave for nothing. He had to intervene... but it hurt.

"Don't be so mindless!" Golfball snapped, "You will NOT leave. You will only create more problems!" She warned, pissed off.

"What if she's already hurt.. or worse?" Lightning worried "W-Will it be worth going out there..?" He cared for Pens safety.

"If there's any chance she's still alive, then I'm taking that chance." He replied coldly, trying to pry the door open due to Golfballs updated security.

"I understand that.. but it's a dangerous time and its also raining.. we don't want to lose out there you too-" Lollipop tried to walk up to him, watching him struggling.

Blocky looked away. "Pen.. I know it hurts but-"

"Then come with me! If any of you cared about her then you would come look for her with me.." he weakly replied.

"This is preposterous!!" Golfball snapped, the others looking to her. "You will stay here, don't make me force you!"

"She could be hurt!-" Pen snapped back "I-I want to look for her!" He kept going against Golfballs wishes, forcing the door open enough to leave.

"I'm going-" he turned from them, going to attempt to leave. Blackhole looked down to the ground. He knew he would have to tell them now. Letting Pen leave would just hurt more and cause more unnecessary deaths.

"Pen.. don't go." Blackhole quickly spoke up. Pen turned over to him "Why shouldn't I??" You could hear the pain in his voice. He felt upset that she was out there still.

"..I.. left her there for a reason." He admitted.

Blocky was surprised, quickly paying attention to him "What are you talking about?? Look, I don't know why you did that.. but what reason could possibly be enough to make you abandon her?!" He scolded him.

"I-"

"Must be pretty big. Unless you did it for nothing. I would be rather disappointed in you for that.." Lollipop warned.

Blackhole would frown if he could "Look- I..well..she.." he didn't know how to say it. He observed their awaiting expressions, even Golfball curious on what he had to say, wanting to know what his motive was.

"..She.. was. .already dead."

It took a moment for them to understand what he meant. To not see it was harder to believe it, but Blackhole was far from a liar. He was humble and truthful, selfless. He wouldn't lie to them without good reason, of which happened earlier..so ..was this the truth he had been hiding?

"..Dead?" Pen squeaked, not noticing that the door has shut in on itself. "..As..in..murdered? Or.. did she do it herself-?"

"I don't know.." he admitted, pained "..But she was ..completely dead. I don't think she did it herself.. and ..I-I just didn't want .. well, for you all to see what had happened."

"..Oh.. I.. " Blocky didn't know what to say.. goddammit now he felt bad why couldn't Blackhole have just said so.

"Why didn't you tell us..?" Bomby walked up to him. Jr held his arms, trying to process the information that they lost one of their teammates.

"..I was worried you'd be too distraught. It was a very distressing image..that I wish I didn't have to see.." he could feel all their gazes still on him.

"So..she's..gone?" Lightning fidgeted.

"Well, of course she is, didn't you just listen?!" Fanny hissed back to him passive aggressively.

"Hmp.." Golfball looked to the side. She felt a slight tinge of guilt. A little bit. After saying all those things to him back in her workplace a little while ago. Maybe it was Blockys fault to why she felt emotional and different. But she didn't like it. She felt the need to apologise or..comfort him. But she was too stubborn to speak.

"I'm. .sorry. I didn't even.." Blocky looked to the side "J-Jeez.. I sound like kind of a jerk now.. don't I-?"

Blackhole shook his head "It..is okay. I ..understand your past frustration and confusion. "

"But to say all those things..-"

"Was the killer still around then..?" Bomby asked "..We were still all at risk of being killed.. by whoever killed her.. right?"

"I would assume so.." Blackhole muttered. Golfball grumbled "..Fine. We will stay away from going outside for a little while. I'm sure Fries can wait. Maybe he'll find us for himself. " she spoke firmly.

"As for now.." she looked over to Blackhole, who was making his way out.

"I'm..going to have some time to myself. If you need me..I'll, er.. be in a spare room." He gently said, floating away "..I'm.. sorry."

He went to leave the scene. The others were left to ruminate about what just happened. "Jeez.." Jr weakly mumbled.

"..I had no idea." Bomby rubbed the back of his head "I-I feel kind of bad..now.."

"Pen-" Blocky noticed that he hadn't said much, going over to him and hugging him "I'm..really sorry-"

Pen didn't reply, flinching as Blocky hugged him. He hugged him back, looking to the side.

" .. I'm sorry Pen..." Lightning muttered "I-If she had been out there still, I would've came with you.."

"..Thank you.." he muttered, appreciative of his kind thought. Fanny muttered something but didn't take notice. It was either her complaining or something else unneeded.

They didn't really talk much after that.

----

Lunchtime had just passed, and it was the afternoon. Rf and the gang were still caged up in the debuters base, unable to really escape or do anything as they were tied up against their own will.

They had asked what the debuters wanted, why they were caging them, what their intentions were etc, but they didn't answer them. Anchor hadn't really said much.

He was of course amazed to see them all alive. But it hurt that they thought Anchor was a threat. He ..understood, but it was still difficult. He wished they would listen for a moment.. listen to the whole group.

"This is ridiculous. We've been here for too long." Rf grumbled, leaning against the bars of the cage. She had tried to undo the rope, but all of them were struggling to undo it. They even tried to use Anchor or Needles sharp edges to break it, but it was no use.

"You think??" Needle hissed, hostile. They could hear the debuters talking in another part of the warehouse, but couldn't tell what they were saying.

"Do you think they're going to hurt us?" Nickel nervously asked. "Because that would be really annoying.."

"I wouldn't put it past them." Tree muttered, his knees to his body as he looked down to the ground. "..They don't care about us. They just see us as.. 'Twos side'."

"That's just how most of our side views Fours side though..not as their friends or other objects.." Nickel commented. He was uncomfortable since his hand was tied to one of the cage bars, since he only had one arm.

"We need an escape plan." Needle whispered quietly "..Any ideas-?"

"We can't leave yet!" Rf snapped, a little harsher than she intended "We need to find out how they're controlling Tv! That's why we came here!" She hissed quietly, looking around anxiously to make sure they weren't listening.

"At the expense of our lives?" Needle shot back.

"You agreed to come along. I didn't MAKE you." She pointed out, Tree frowning "Guys.. please"

Rf groaned and slumped against the bars, letting out a large sigh of frustration "I can't stand being caged up in here either, but I'm not giving up that easy. I want to find out what they're doing and why. Nickel, aren't you annoyed they did that to you..?"

"Well..obviously." he grumbled. Tree attempted to get the rope off, huffing "..We all want to know. But they're much stronger than us.. and they hate us. That's quite the.. erm, bad mix. "

"..But I NEED to know.." she whimpered ". And how will Two react if we return with nothing? Pissed OFF." She complained.

"Two won't GET a chance to be pissed off of we don't return at all." Needle replied coldly, looking away from her "I don't want to die here."

Suddenly they heard walking. They were coming closer. This made them quiet down, fear filling all of them at the different thoughts that ran through all their heads.

"..Oh dear.." Tree muttered, watching them get closer "Brace yourselves.."

"Could you all quiet down? It's rather rude to be disrespectful as guests." Rs sneered, watching them glare at him. "Don't look at me like that. You brought this upon yourselves."

"Fuck off" Rf sneered, giving him a death glare through the bars. Rs rolled his eye, leaning down and holding onto the bars, tilting his head as he peered inside.

"..Oh dear, what are you going to do?" He mocked. She only growled.

"You came here willingly." Rs chuckled, pointing it out. "..I never made you. Though, we had a feeling you would anyways."

Sc played with his hands "..You should've known.. sorry.." he muttered quietly.

Rs observed them all, squinting and thinking to himself "Hmm.." It made Anchor on edge, like they were being examined.

"Nice to see you again, Nickel." He felt a small smile tug his face "..I'm surprised you survived our attack. We did some pretty horrendous things. Say, how did you get your legs back?"

"Your attack just caused more SUFFERING to the ones you're supposed to be protecting." Needle snapped, making Rs focus on her instead.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"..Like we'll tell you anything. Its not like you're telling US anything that we want to know, are you?" Rf spat, refusing to give any information.

"Very well." Rs parted from the cage, looking towards the others. He gave a brief nod, causing the others to be more on edge.

"What's happening..?" Rf muttered, looking at the others in the cage. Needle shrugged "I-I don't know.. but it probably isn't good..-" she backed off slightly as Rs began to unlock the cage.

"If you're going to be difficult, I might just have to force it out of you." He snarled, unlocking it. They were too scared to suddenly try to escape, aware of the power the group possessed. They wouldn't stand a chance against them.

He opened the door with a creak. The others were surprised, stuck in place by fear.

Rs grabbed Tree by the rope that held his hands together, tugging him out of the cage, pulling him up onto his feet. He yelped and stumbled "Wh-What did I do?!" He shrieked.

"Nothing. Your friends will have to learn the hard way that their actions will only affect those around them. That's how it works now, right?" He mocked, giving the group a threatening glare before kicking it shut, the lock falling back into place.

"H-Hey!" Rf tried to put her face up to the bars to see what was happening "Let him go!"

"I just explained this to you." Rs sighed, annoyed. Tree stumbled as he was dragged away, looking back at Rf nervously, scared. He wasn't sure what was happening. "Wh-What are.."

He was shoved down into a seat that the others had grabbed, his arms forced behind it, still tied. He squirmed, staring up at Rs as he looked down at him. He could see the group in the background, their eyes on him.

His legs were tied to the chair legs, his breathing picking up in the state of panic. "I-I didn't-"

"You have quite a lot of injuries already, hm?" He traced the edge of where his trunk had been half cut. He flinched and looked away instantly, "G-Gh-"

"What's happening??" Needle asked Rf quickly. She didn't look back at her "I-I don't know!- G-Get off him!!" She demanded, panicked as well.

"Oh god.. they're going to hurt him-" Nickel stammered. Rf felt her body grow more anxious at the realisation "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!"

He heard the Robot Flower shouting and demanding Rs to stop. Tape rolled his eyes, a little annoyed "..Jeez.." he grumbled.

Purple Face raised an eyebrow "Rs, I'm going to take the others out to make sure theres not more of them around. Here."

He handed him some sort of weapon with his mouth, Rs smirking in response and taking it. He admired it up and doen, Tree biting his lip and struggling in the restraints.

"Have fun." Rs chuckled, watching the rest of his own group depart and leave the warehouse. Rf growled, watching as Rs was the only one left "..FUCK YOU!!"

"You're just making this worse. Now.." he turned over to the caged group, smirking. He could theoretically use his mind control powers to force them to tell him the answers regardless, but he wanted to physically make them, without using his powers.

He wanted to teach them the rules that Fours group had been forced to learn.

"While looking around with Tv, we had quite the little wonder. There was some things that we didn't understand, but I'm sure YOU do.." he snapped.

"Now..what do you mean by our attack causing more suffering to those who we are trying to protect?"

They didn't reply for a moment. Rf anxiously looked back at Nickel, Needle gritting her teeth "We won't tell you anything!" She yelled "As if!"

Rs raised an eyebrow, swiftly spinning back to Tree "Very well.."

He switched on the weapon he had been given. Tree gulped nervously, bracing himself for whatever was coming. He was scared for the pain, suddenly screaming in a distorted mix of pain and yelling.

Rs was using an electrical baton to electrocute him, watching him squirming and struggling in pain and shock. He took it away after a few more seconds, smirking and observing as he panted and wailed.

"P-Please-"

Rf watched in fear "NO!" She yelled, trying to get out of the ropes but had no luck "STOP THAT!-"

"700 volts.. must hurt quite a lot? I bet you feel like you're burning from the inside..hm?" Tree couldn't speak from shock, crying out in agony and pain as he was electrocuted with it again. "If it was over 2000, it would just kill you. Did you know that? These are batons from your own base. We stole them.."

The group was forced to watch, Anchor trying to block out the sounds. He felt sickened, hurt that Rs was doing something so brutal ...

Well.. it was no surprise. After everything with Nickel..

He brought it away from Tree again, who was trying to catch his breath from the pain. It hurt overwhelmingly, just wanting to pass out and get away from him. He felt so weak, choking out sounds of pain.

"Now.. lets try again."

Rs looked back at the group, giving them a sadistic smirk, swinging the baton around playfully. "What did you mean by our attack causing more suffering to those who we are trying to protect?"

----