A scream ripped through the air of the previously quiet room, then all was still once more. A small giggle sounded from behind the machine, where Null could be found gazing expectantly at the broken, bloody form of Myles; who was trapped between two huge, jammed gears. Another moment passed, and Null frowned, "It was supposed to have happened by now..." he mumbled, stepping forward to poke Myles' cheek. "Maybe it didn't work..."

High above, the three eye-shaped rooms of the machine lost power. The fluid that ran through their pipes stopped flowing, and the lights went dark. The ever-burning flame that lit up the fireplace went out, leaving the room barely lit by the gently lowering moon. Green eyes glowed, and Null smiled, "That's a bit better, though I was told that there would be an explo-" The circular compartment on the right, the one to which the blue liquid flowed, blew up. The shockwave threw Null forwards, smacking him against the now stationary gears, which would have killed him if they were moving. Fiery blobs of melted metal rained down from the stump of where the glorified AC unit used to be, setting things on fire and forcing Null to dodge and weave his way out of the walkway and into the main room.

He was almost to the safety of the door, when the second one -the red one on the left this time- exploded as well. Throwing Null into the wall, stunning him out of control, and giving Sean's body to a random persona. Purple eyes opened wide in fear, as superheated chunks of metal the size of basketballs fell towards him from all sides. The third one -the yellow, middle one- detonated at last, and a chunk of flaming wood from the desk smacked him across the face. A terrified, pained squeak was his only audible reaction, as he covered his face with his hands and stood up.

Debris continued to fall, as the top half of the machine came crashing to the floor. The persona stumbled towards the closest door and opened it, only to discover that it was a closet. Inside, was the decorations for Dr. Markus' costume birthday party that they were going to throw him next weekend. He wildly sifted through the clothes, until his fingers brushed against something small and plastic; a mask. After struggling to disentangle it from the rest of the fabric while at the same time dodging deadly, high-speed projectiles, he slipped it over his face and took his hands away. There was a small mirror in the closet, and the persona looked himself over briefly. It was a plastic owl mask, with purple highlights and swirls, and it covered the entire top half of his face.

By now, almost all of the rubble had fallen, and the smoke from the fire had cleared enough for him to see. Cautiously, so as not to step on anything sharp or hot, he made his way over to the wall, and slid down it into a sitting position. Eyes closed, he sent a silent prayer up to heaven asking that what he was about to do wouldn't backfire, and began to mutter a spell. Purple sparks danced on his fingertips as he continued to mumble, and he drew a small picture on his new mask -⧝- a symbol of binding. As his finger dragged across the forehead, the line left behind glowed violet, pulsing with every word he spoke. Once the symbol was deeply engraved into the plastic, and his spell had finished, he took a deep breath; thanking God that it hadn't blown up in his face like he had expected it to. Now that the spell was in place, the mask would automatically appear on his face whenever he was in control, and none of the other personas -including Sean- would have to hide what he hid. Magic successfully cast, he let out a deep sigh, his head fell onto his knees, his breathing slowed, and he set off through the mind-plaza to find Sean.

Across the room, next to the machine, four small lights sat contentedly on Myle's lowered head. One by one, they jumped off of his bloody mop of hair and flew off. The pink, energetic one, shot out of the door and back into the operation room, where it slipped into the mouth of Subject 394-SH's old body.

The blue, calmer one, floated around the room for a bit, then phased through a door and entered a second storage closet. A figure stood in the back of it, with wires protruding from the back of his neck. The mouth was slightly open, allowing the little blue light to enter it with ease.

The third, pale beige light, spluttered and flickered for a bit before falling to the floor and going out completely.

The last light, one that was constantly shifting between red and dark blue, snaked around on the floor; before coming across the wet yin-and-yang pin on the floor. A moment later, the Yin was red, and the Yang was blue, and the puddle that had formed around it was shifting from an icy teal to an inky black.

In the next room, Subject 394-SH's old body opened his bright pink eyes and sat up in the bed. Noticing that he was wearing nothing but a hospital gown, he sauntered into the room with the machine and made a beeline for the costume closet where Sean's persona had found his mask. Not three minutes later, he was dressed in a snappy pink suit, and had a cane hanging from his elbow. "Oh you handsome chap, you are looking sharp today!"

The figure in the closet's eyes began to glow. Red, green, and yellow irises stared blankly into the darkness of the closet, as a bright white G on his chest shone through his T-shirt and illuminated the small room. Joints creaking as he moved his arm, he gently unplugged the various wires from his neck, and began the process of rebooting his systems. "Battery power at 100%. No charging needed."

The pin in the puddle started to vibrate and shake, causing ripples throughout the previously blue liquid. The fluid rose up, becoming a gel-like goo, and formed the vague shape of a man. Black tentacles protruded from his shoulder blades, and the pin was delicately attached to his breast pocket. When he opened his eyes, they were the same pitch black voids that had once inhabited Myles' sockets. "He actually followed the plan, that's surprising."

The pink man slammed the door of the costume closet with vigor as he spun on his heel and faced the rest of the room. He all but skipped over to the busted machine, where Myles' body still lay entrapped. "Man, he really took a number on you buddy." He joyfully patted the corpse's head and meant to turn away, but a cold hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Why do you laugh? He was the only decent human I knew, and ever will know. He did not deserve to die like this." There was a hint of sadness in his robotic voice, but that was covered up nicely by the pink man's guffaw. "He was a good host, I'll give him that, but he worked with Markus; and to me that means he deserved it. Besides, we got our own bodies now, and they're not comatose!" He pinched himself, as if to make sure, "See? I can feel it!"

"Yes, yes, congratulations, you have a nervous system. Quite an achievement. Would you like me to print your award certificate?" The robot rolled his eyes, doing the best sarcastic voice that his voice box could muster, since he wasn't supposed to have emotions. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to update my objectives." Stiffly, he walked over to the remains of the desk, found the swivel chair that had miraculously survived the explosion -even if it was a bit charred- and sat down; his eyes overtaken by binary.

The pink man scoffed, "He needs to learn how to have fun. It's always work with him." He commented before a black tentacle set itself on his shoulder, its origin standing slightly behind him. "He's a robot, work is his fun." The pink man shrugged the appendage off and poked Myles in the cheek again. "Well can he work on getting us names? I'm tired of being a number."

"I would suggest that you pick your own name, since he doesn't like you very much, and will probably give you a stupid one." The melting man brushed some soot off of his liquid tuxedo, his tentacles waving idley behind him. "I will be Shade."

"Ooh spooky and mysterious, I like it." The man with the cane walked over to the robot, and clapped a hand on his back, startling him out of his cyber-world. "Hey robo-dude, do me a solid and search for a name for me, will ya? Preferably one that highlights my professional nature, Thanks." He leaned against a metal pole that held up part of the crumbling metal frame, which shifted under his weight, and sent another part of the machine crashing to the floor. "Opps."

The robot sighed, and scanned the damage done to the machine, estimating when and where the rest of the metal would fall. "From what I have seen, the only thing you professionalize is destruction. So finding you a name based on that will be extremely difficult. As for my own, I will be Chrome. Google Chrome." Finding the weakest point in the structure, Chrome stood up and strode over to another, more rickety beam; pushing it back into its socket on the floor. It fell in with a clunk, and refused to budge, eliminating the potential threat of falling debris. Once he had walked away though, the nameless pink wonder spread his hands out in excitement; and accidentally smacked it with his cane, snapping the thin rod of metal in half and sending another hunk of machinery to the ground. "That's it! Google, look up synonyms for professional."

Chrome sighed, tapping into his browser and searching for the required information. "Professional, noun. Definition: a person engaged or qualified in a profession. Synonyms: expert, accomplished, skillful, adept, masterly, masterful, excellent, fine, polished, finished, skilled, proficient, competent, capable, able, efficient, experienced, practiced, trained, seasoned, slick, businesslike, deft, dexterous, docter-"

"That's it! I'll be Doctor Destruction. The fancy fellow with a broomstache!" He licked the pristine upper lip of Shade's old body. "...I'll have to grow one first though. Oh well! Until then, this'll work." He snapped his fingers and a hazy, slightly transparent mustache appeared on his lip. As he wiggled it around, testing it out, Shade and Chrome shared a "this is my life now" look. Chrome sighed in exasperation, the vents in his neck working overtime to sift through all the extra oxygen. "Please state your first name for registration."

The smile fell from Dr. Destruction's face for a moment, "...First...Name...Oh yes! My first name. That will be...William. Dr. William Percival Destruction. Yes, that will do nicely! I have chosen my name." He created the illusion of a pink, hazy top hat and tipped it from his head.

"Wonderful." Shade spoke through gritted teeth, extremely annoyed at the waste of time. The top half of his semi-melted body spun around, and the bottom half stayed the same direction, turning to face the persona slumped up against the wall -who's mask was quickly fading out of existence. "Now, what shall we do with the other one."