Benefit rubbed his eyes.

He looked around the claustrophobic space he found himself in along with the many number of blanket he was nested in… He must've fallen asleep. Due to the events that had happened the day before, he didn't know if he would be able to. Yet, he did, quite soundly too. No nightmares (new ones anyways) or monsters to scare him awake.

He sat up from his warm bed, his new glow illuminating his small sleeping area. The glow which he hoped he could learn more about today. When he came back to the hideout, Tyche was currently doing her required patrol. How did she get put on patrol duty? Heck if he knows…

However Tyche should be back by now, so Benefit took this time to crack all of his old bones back into place, before crawling out of his small sleeping area.

As he opened the door to his sleeping area, he was quickly blinded by the bright lights of the backrooms. The buzzing sound, the bright yellow color, the many rows of lights made Benefit's skull ache.

It hadn't even been twelve hours since the attack, yet it had felt like weeks.

Many OCs felt anxious to even move from where they were standing, worried they might alert a static of their location. He didn't blame them, of course, after being driven from SET to SET, losing many good OCs and friends in the process, it felt very odd… He felt lucky to even be alive. If it weren't for Spade, (Whose name he learned from Xphese) he would've been static food for certain.

Benefit limped to the main room, where he instantly spotted Tyche, being as flamboyant as usual. He especially eyed her outfit. She was wearing her usual white and gold color pallette, except her dress was cut in a way where your direction was brought to her chest and pelvis.
He gritted his teeth.

There are children here… Why the hell is she wearing that…

Tyche looked over at Benefit and excitedly waved him over.

“Alex!!! Hello!!! Come join us.” She yelled out. Benefit gruffed in embarrassment as other OCs attention was directed toward him as he scuttled over to Tyche.

“Ohoho!! Good morning, Alex! I tried to greet you  earlier but the others said you were sleeping like a babe, so I thought ot would be best to not disturb you.” Tyche exclaimed, holding a cyrstal glass of wine, which was odd saying there was no access to fine china or wine in this area.

Benefit hugged his arms uncomfortably.

When he first met Tyche, she seemed like a glimpse of hope, like some how and some way Isacc and him could leave together alive. However, now he can only see her as some trickster he sold his soul to…

“Actually Tyche… I was hoping you could tell me about the elephant in the room?” Benefit stared at Tyche.

She stared back, not knowing what he was talking about.

“Tyche, my outfit!” Benefit whispered loudly, gesturing at his outfit.

Tyche seemed confused, “What in order’s grace do you mean? You look fabulous, Alex!” She looked him up and down, biting her lip.

Benefit stumbled over his words, shocked at her reply.
“I- Er- No! Why- How! How did this happen?”

Tyche casually sipped her wine, “Well I would guess you were in some form of situation where you needed things to happen in your favor, and your contact does state that I am legally supposed to help you in some way, so… Boom, magic forcefield. You can't be touched! You're so welcome.” She said it in a teasing tone as she booped him on the nose.

Benefit took a step back, “Well, I- I dont see why that would require a random wardrobe change?? And… My other outfit is probably gone-” Benefit was cut off.

“Probably for the best, darling, I wouldnt stress about that old thing. Besides, if you have a heavenly forcefield, its only fitting to have an outfit to match, and your other outfit… was not it. See, before, you looked like a nobody, just some skeleton in some torn up uniform, now, you look like someone who is absolutely slaying in an outfit!” Tyche giggled.

Benefit blinked, speechless.

“Anyways, yeah, cool new powers, cute new outfit. Any other questions?” She rested her head on her hands and she smirked at Benefit.

“Why would you do this…? You are not usually the type to be….” Benefit thought about his word choice. “... Nice”

Tyche opened her mouth wide and gently placed her hand on her chest, showing offence, “Take it how you want, luck powers are quite a NICE thing to have, it did save you after all, did it not… God, you mortals are all the same, so greedy… Maybe I should start to rethink our contract.” She frowned.

Benefit sucked his teeth. “No- That's not what I meant I-”
“Shut! You have spoken far more than enough Benny boy! You should watch your words with me!”

Benefit rolled his eyes.

This woman was intolerable…

Benefit tucked his hands in his armpits, before walking away. It was time for his patrol anyways.

He could hear Tyche put up a bit of an attitude for not giving a proper goodbye, however she didn't call him back as she watched him head for the exit.

—

Benefit closed the door to the exit gently with a soft click, trying not to alert anything listening out here. As he left the safe zone, he pulled out his phone.

No new messages.

He didn't like messaging Citres anymore after the first time, but he couldn't help but feel worried for her, along with everyone else.

He may not have been given the choice to meet them under friendlier terms, but that didn't make them bad people. Just people doing what they thought was best.

Benefit took a breath, thinking about how Virus was probably extremely stressed at the moment. He always joked about this day happening, and how he would look like death, but now that the day has come, he wondered how he was doing.

He put his phone away before continuing his patrol.

There were many many traps on the way to the safe zone, he doubted he would find anything on his patrol, however it was always required to do them anyways. He wouldn't complain. It was an excellent way for him to think things through, he still had mixed feelings on leaving the others behind.

They should've gotten to the safe zone at this point, same with Puri.
He bit his lip, no one blamed him for the others’ disappearance, but he knew deep down, their infection was on his hands. If he hadn't ran, if he turned back with Puri, what ifs that all could've changed things…

He took a breath. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could do now, other than get in his own head.

.

.

.

Unless there was something he could do…

Benefit clenched his fist, he knew he should finish his patrol, however, maybe there was some way he could help others, more than what he was doing now.

Some way he could help get rid of the statics… maybe like….
Alerting Anubis!

Surely if he managed to get outside, he could make his way there and have them save the day! It was a perfect plan. Much better than sitting around all day!

And just like that, he made up his mind. He had almost finished his patrol anyways, no statics in sight.

Though if he didn't return, the others would be worried…..
No! If he returned it wouldnt be likely that he would escape until his next patrol. Now was the best time!

He took a breath.

He just crossed his fingers that, unlike his friends, he would actually survive any encounters as he marched back towards the main section of the house.

—

Linxer stepped quietly.

She was by her closet when the statics striked, thankfully though, it wasn't her first rodeo. She knew how to prevent statics from infecting her.

She managed to fight a few of them back, however the rushed her, she couldn't handle all of them.

Not just that, but since she was in the front lines, she didn't know if everyone was okay.

Obviously a few got infected here and there, but she didn't know if the others were safe or all lying dead.

However, now wasn't the time to think about her friends.

Something in the air was off, other than the blood. She took another step, getting closer and closer to her prey.

She peeked over the corner to the kitchen, someone was stealing the food.

Her tail whished back and forth as she caught a glimpse of the figure.

They were short, using Jinx's step stool to reach the higher cabinetry. The figure carried a bag with them as they stuffed as much as they could from the shelves into their bag.

Little thief…

Linxers claws dug into the wall as she was preparing to attack.

It obviously wasn't a static, so whoever it was shouldn't be too terrible to deal with.

The figure stepped down from the stool, letting all of their targets open. Linxer was quick to jump on the figure, pinning them to the ground.

“ACK- GET OFF YOU BEAST!” A young voice cried out.
Linxer stared the figure down, but was quick to let her guard down when she saw the little prince, Prane's face.

He stared at her. “OFF. OF. ME!”

Linxer growled, “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

Prane gave her an angry expression. “Getting a snack, was that not obvious!?”

Linxer kept flashing her teeth as warnings, “Don't play dumb with me, statics don't eat, and you and your harvest static are the last ones to need food…”

Prane kneed her in the stomach, making Linxer flinch back, giving Prane the opportunity to run.

Linxer clawed at his ankle and he was quick to fall back down. He tried to kick Linxer off of her.

Linxer crawled back to him and stabbed him in the chest with a rubber knife, pinning him to the floor.

“ACK-”

Linxer held the knife down as he clawed at her paws. “You better start talking or I'll twist it deeper…”

Prane frowned at her before sighing and sticking his tongue out at her.

—-

Benefit looked at the giant open static trap that stood between him and the main stage.

Could I make that jump…?

He looked back down the hole that seemed to lead down into nothingness.

It's worth a shot he supposed, what's the worst that could happen.

He walked back a few steps to gain a running start before taking a leap.

He immediately started to regret his decision as the hole seemed to get bigger as he jumped.

He stumbled in the air, thinking that he was about to be caught in a static trap, but before he even realized, he felt a push behind him and stumbled onto the other side of the hole.

Benefit quickly looked around, to see who could have helped him, but no one was there.

He let out a breath of relief before looking at the area.  The place seemed to be in even more of a mess than before… Lights that were once hung were cracked and shattered on the floor.

Benefit took each step carefully, since he was barefooted, he didn't want to get a painful poke from any glass.

He pulled out his dagger as he heard a crash in the main room before tip-toeing carefully into the room.

—

Oliver held his breath as he dragged Inkwell away.
The splashes could still be heard, they needed to get farther away.

Inkwell kept fighting Oliver's grip.

“LET ME GO!” She growled, her teeth seeming to get a bit more sharp and her hair a bit more spikey.

Oliver didn't take mind, they needed to find Telum.

He took a couple more steps until he found that the once weak strength of the middle-aged woman seemed to quadruple.

Oliver looked back at Inkwell.

Like her strength, her size grew as well. Her proportions seemed off, more monstrous, as she dripped with ink. She growled at Oliver once more, with all of her human features leaving.

Oliver stared at her wide eyed.

This wasn't something his host was familiar with.

Oliver quickly let go of Inkwell's hand as she slashed at him and let out a monstrous cry before charging at him.

Oliver's grew wider as he dashed to the main room, not wanting to have to fight this inky demon.

—

Crow skipped back to the starting area, humming once again.

She called behind her. “Okayyyyy~ If you're still hiding, that means you win. Time is up! …That means you Magna!”

A figure walked to the entrance, they had the appearance of Zecora.

They looked around, “Where's-” They were cut off.

“Narry? Oh, well, you know she was never good at tag.” She shrugged and smiled.

The Zecora stared at Crow, traumatized, understanding what had happened.

Crow smiled, “Aaaannyyyyways!! It's your turn! We've played my game, what do you want to play?”

Zecora trembled a little.

“Well? C'mon, make up your mind.”

The Zecora took a breath before speaking.

“I want you to turn off your crowns.”

Crows expression dropped, as if Narrator had said something triggering. “What?”

Zecora repeated herself, “Make them stop working or… something I don't know. You're the smart one…”

Crow tapped her lip. “Turn ‘off’ my crowns…? I don't see how this is a fun game…or a game at all.” She crossed her arms.

“W-Well, it's a part of the game. You have to find a way to… make them stop working and then we can play.”

“Oh…… Alrighty! I understand! Uuuummmm Let me see what I can do. Hm.. hm.. hm…. Oh! I think I have something I could use, I guess.”

Zecora hugged her arms, “Then go get to it so we can start.”

Crow nodded excitedly before running out. “I'll be right back! Wait here.”

Zecora watched as Crow left before looking over her shoulder.

She had time, she could still find him…

Zecora walked back into the tag arena. Thankfully, Zecora had a somewhat strong nose, she could already smell the blood.

She followed the wall before the smell of blood began to get much stronger. Zecora turned the corner and covered her mouth.

Narrator's body laid still on the floor, lifelessly, their guts and blood was spilt onto the floor from their stomach getting cut up so much.

Zecora tried to stop herself from throwing up. This mask wasn't helping.

Narrator took off the mask of Zecora Magna had given to her as she stared in horror at her lifeless body.

Never thought I would see myself die….

She held her breath and pinched her arm as she got closer to the body.

Narrator gently lifted the corpse's blooded face and removed the once invisible Narrator mask.

Now, it was Magna who laid dead on the floor, not her.

Narrator teared up at the sight of her dead friend. One second, she was getting annoyed at him for something stupid, and now…

Narrator wiped her glossy eyes as she stared at the hand carved mask of herself. She could tell Magna made this mask with extreme care, trying to get every detail of her image on the mask.

She turned it over, and noticed something scratched into the wood. It seemed messy and rushed.

“Thanks for trusting me, Torry <3
Go kick Prane in the ass for me.”

Narrator took a few more steps back before her legs gave under her and she collapsed onto the floor. Covering her mouth as her pulse and breath quickened.

She began to cry out, mourning Magna's death. She couldn't stand to look at the state of him, she could barely recognized him.

She took a shaky breath as she pinched her arm once more, trying to wake up from whatever nightmare she was in right now.

She quickly sat up as she could hear the tip tap of Crows boots.

She needed to get back.

Narrator created a flower and placed it at the end of the hall, where she was, not wanting to get any closer.
She left the Narrator mask as well and she stumbled back.

Just as Narrator ran back into the original room, Crow skipped in.

Narrator stared at her, the image of Magna still in her mind.
She doesn't even know what she's done.

Crow spoke in her normal cheery tone, “Alright. I think that's everything? Let me get these turned off so we can begin the game!”
Crow took her crowns off and began to fidget with them.

Narrator took a deep breath trying to steady herself before summoning a cloth to dry her face with.

She would make sure Magna got a proper funeral once everything was all done. Even though he wasn't very well liked, it would be cruel to leave him there to rot…

Crow smiled, “Okay! And with one turn of this… this….” her cheery attitude seemed to drop.

Narrator looked up at Crow who stared at the crowns for a moment before gasping and backing away from them.

“Crow…?”

Crow looked at Narrator concerned before noticing her lack of mask. “Ah! Shit- Dont- Erm.”

Thank goodness, it is her.

Narrator was relieved. She seemed to be back to normal. She created a face covering Crow could use before handing it to her without looking at her.

Crow took it before putting it on, seeming much more relieved.
“Narry, what are you doing here and…” Her head turned towards the crowns. “Did I go crazy again…” She sounded defeated.

Narrator hugged her arms. “I guess… You could say that…”

Crow stared at Narrator. “Did I do anything this time, are you okay?”

Narrator's eyes began to water again, thinking about Magna.

“You… Magna.. Hes..”

Crow froze. “No…. No no no no.. Please don't say it…”

Narrator tilted her head down before looking at Crow, staying silent.

Crow didn't move.

Narrator took a breath before approaching Crow, changjng the subject. “Sally, I need your help… The static invasion came yesterday and we could really use your help at getting rid of them…”

Crow was still. “.......Okay. How… How can I help?”

“Anything for statics from the old SETs might be helpful.”

Crow nodded. “Do you know who is infected?”

“Some… Puri and Jinx are for sure. Same with Legend.”
“Your boyfriend? I thought he was smarter than to⁹ face statics after what he saw happen to you…”

Narrator crossed her arms. “He is plenty smart, thank you… I don't see you reading anything interesting other than your notes, what sources do you use?” Narrator said, beginning to joke, trying to lighten the mood

A smile could be heard in Crow's voice. “Pch, who needs sources when you are writing notes. Anyways, I assume you know your boyfriend well enough to help… Do you know anything that makes Puri or Jinxberry tick? Anything that especially sets them off?”
“Jinx.. I can think of a few… But… Puri is really a closed book. I barely know them, they don't like talking to me…”
Crow thought for a moment.

“Doll? Are you nearby?” She called out.
Doll peeked in. “Yellow?”
“Can you fetch Reformed? I need to borrow them.”
“You betcha, boss! Glad to see ya in your right mind!”

Crow looked back at Narrator.
“Do you know anywhere that might know something about Puri?”
“Um…. I guess Jinx talks to me about this..
Basement Containment Unit.. I think that's what it's called. He works there with Puri. Sounds like a job to me, I wouldn't be surprised if they had some kind of information about them on file.”
“Then we will send Reformed to the BCU and see if they can find anything…”

#00128, otherwise known as Reformed, walked in. “See if I can find what now?”
Reformed was an alternative timeline of Puri where they fully grew up in the lab and passed all of Gaster's tests (and punishments). They lived up to their original design, to be a powerful weapon. Compared to Puri, they were smarter, stronger, and just better in general.

Crow turned to Reformed. “Hey… How do you feel about being spray painted pink for a bit?”

“....Excuse me?”

“We need you to pass off as Puri, and you're…. paleness… doesn't really pass.”

“Sorry… I have obviously missed something, what do you want me to do?”

“Oh! Sorry.” Crow rubbed her arm in embarrassment. “We need you to see if you can find anything on Puri. We are going to send you in disguise, it will be flawless, no one will know you're someone else.”

“....Uh-huh…. Am I looking for anything specific or just literally anything. You aren't really being helpful.”

“Anything that… makes them angry..? I guess? Or something that makes them feel strong emotion.”

“...Alright, all see what I can do, I suppose. No promises…”

“Well if you're ready, I will just let you go. Try to imagine what a BCU looks like and try to teleport there…. Or however it works….”

Reformed shook his head. “Alri-”
“OH! Before you teleport, just be careful when you teleport. Theoretically, if we are in a static invasion, the forcefield should be up right now. I am not exactly sure what will happen when you teleport past it, so just be careful…”
Reformed nodded his head. “Then…. I guess we should start spray painting….” He smiled a little.

Crow looked at Narrator

Narrator hugged her arms before summoning a can of pink spray paint. “Spray painting a dog was not on my list of things to do during a static invasion, but I guess everything is full of surprises this week…”
Narrator put on a mask before covering Reformed, who gave her a harsh side eye when she called them a dog, in a light coat of pink spray paint.
She started at Reformed for a bit. “That's all I am doing, I don't want to make you sick or anything…”
Reformed chuckled, “The day I get sick from anything is the day I will admit to the others that they can beat me in a game of tug-o-war..”
Crow stared at the now slightly more pink Reformed. “Isn't he more… I don't know… Saturated?”
“He… is, but I think that should pass off as Puri. Don't you?”
Crow stared at Reformed a moment more.

“I suppose… then, I think you're ready now. Remember, don't trust strangers, don't give out free information, and try to be in and out.”

Narrator added, “From what I've heard, it's a sciency like place that is run by some shadow… ish..
man.. thing? I don't know, Jinx had a hard time describing him, he just called him Concept. Find him, and you know you're in the right place… I guess…”

“Alright, alright. I got it. I'll be back.” And just like that, Reformed jumped and teleported away.

Narrator bit her lip, hoping for the best.

Crow turned back to Narrator. “Where is…”

Narrator's mood shifted as Crow came back to the topic. “Down there. Just follow the scent of blood… I guess….”
Crow looked past her at the halls before nodding. “I'll deal with it later. For now, let's gear up, and go crush some static dreams…”

The two geared up with special static equipment, and stopped to tell Virus about their plans, before making their way to the main room.

It was time to end this.

—

A group approached the closet doors.

They had gotten a message of the attack, all the kingdoms had, wouldn't it be so much fun to join the fight?
The group of statics looked at each other and smiled.

This was going to be fun.

One of them carried what seemed to be a big net as they ran into Linxer's room to enter the arena.