#*rip me

Raz awoke to a painful throbbing right behind his eyes, and he hissed, clutching his face. His eyes stung from dust when he went to open them. The groan slipped past Raz’ lips as he wiped his eyes, sitting upright and shaking his head. He heaved out a few heavy breaths, recalling the sudden explosion rocketing the meeting room of the underwater bunker for the branch heads.

Like he expected, most of the lights were out, leaving the room dimmed. Metallic debris surrounded him followed by the mingling moans of his cohorts as they stirred. Raz tugged his wrists and realized his could part them, forcing him to realize his handcuffs had been removed. Gazing down at his sore wrists, to his baffled wonder, an odd bangle had been set around his left wrist. Turning it over, he found a timer counting down from two hours from now.

Standing up, Raz gazed out to his friends and branch heads. Danilo wrapped Jiao’s arm over his shoulder, helping him stand. Mikhail offered a hand to Maloof while Franke stumbled to her feet, using a fallen chair to push herself up. Montrell gripped his cane and leaned against the table, shaking his head when Felipinho asked if he needed help. Amos shot a glare in Raz’ direction before hobbling over to Vasile, gripping his shoulders to steady to Vice Chairman of the P-sychonauts. Lili got her knees, shaking Chloe’s shoulders as she rubbed her helmeted head. Grigory leaned against the wall, gripping his head as pieces of rubble rolled off his shoulders. Azalea emerged from underneath the table, ambling into Adarah, and the Super Psychonaut Level Arcade Champion steadied them. Tiger shoved some debris off himself and Dimah, helping her stand afterwards.

Raz quickly looked around to his surroundings. The monitors, to Raz’ surprise, were perfectly fine. Though, cracks were everywhere in the room as if it had been struck by an earthquake. The walls were lined with deep marks, and the bodies of the dead security agents flashed in his mind. A faint scent of crackling smoke like from faulty wiring hit his nostrils, but before he could address the situation, an odd sound stunned him.

“Upupupupu!”

Raz gasped, and the others jerked their heads around, baffled by the strange laugh. They shook off their weariness, frozen and frightened from the unbecoming giggle.

“Long time no see, everyone! How have you all been? I’ve been more than well!”

Crystal, sitting in the corner of the room, clapped her head over her mouth. D’art’s eyes widened, murmuring his disbelief. Raz glanced over to them as Adarah shouted to know who was talking.

“We already know that laugh,” Rosana whispered, biting her lip.

“B-but that couldn’t be him. This place is supposed to be t-totally secured,” Niimi retorted, clenching her fists.

“Upupupupu! Don’t doubt the truth. Face forward, and accept it without any kind of bullshit!” Again, the voice rang out, and a chime rang out, forcing their attention to the unfazed monitor on the wall. Static crackled on the screen, swiftly followed by the scarlet mark of a monochromatic beast. “As long as despair reigns, as long as it exists in any way, shape, or form, I will be there!”

The screen burst with light, revealing the interior of the Main Lodge’s cabin. From behind the podium burst up Monosquirrel on a scarlet spring with a coy laugh. He thrust his paw out, waving to the befuddled agents and landed on his furled tail. He scanned the dumbfounded, shrieking agents and continued snickering.

Raz’ mouth fell open, and the world crashed around him once more. He trembled, feeling the ground under his feet shake, and his mind raced with uncertainty. He knew the mastermind was dead, but Monosquirrel laughed before him in Whispering Rock no less. He recognized the wooden walls and posters drawn by former campers. He even noted the old drawing Milka made of Elton from when they were children, and his heart felt like it would collapse into his stomach.

“Who are you?” Vasile demanded, and Dimah hobbled to his side, the creases in her brow deepening.

“Oh, you’re really asking my for my name? That name has been around for years now, and yet, you’re still gonna ask?” Monosquirrel jeered, shaking his head. “I can’t believe it! Asking a question you already know the answer to. Some VP you are, Vasile.”

“It’s Vice Chairman to you,” Amos snapped, and Vasile gripped his shoulder, quickly shaking his head.

“Did you two cause this? You two despairs!” Jiao snapped, pointing at Crystal and D’art, and Danilo cracked his neck, narrowing his glare.

Crystal flinched, stumbling to her feet and shouting, “N-no way! We didn’t do any of this!”

“We’re just as much in the dark as you guys are,” D’art added, glancing at his feet.

“It couldn’t have been them or us for that matter,” Lili said, pulling Chloe to her feet as the younger agent took off her helmet, trying to get her bearings in order. “We haven’t been to Whispering Rock since the killing game. There’s no way we would’ve had time to set any of this up when Mavra’s branch was spying on us.”

“She did that because you guys were acting shifty!” Amos barked, and Monosquirrel cleared his throat.

“Regardless of all that, I have a proclamation!” Monosquirrel interjected, clapping his paws. “Hello, my dear friends at the P-sychonauts! You’re all so wonderful! Putting your best efforts in to bring hope back to the world and end the reign of despair. It’s absolutely noble, and everyone here is a beacon of hope in their own right. Hell, even the Soldiers of Despair fell to you guys, and they were the next generation of Ultimate Despair!”

Raz grit his teeth. The harrowing clashes between their branch and their apprentices had truly been chaotic bloodbaths. Those children had no rationality, choosing to kill and despair to their own desires. Massacring and ruthlessness became their bread and butter until their leader simply decided to stop for his own curiosity. Raz could only imagine the further bloodshed and trauma they would endure and cause if Ford had not acquiesced to Raz’ offer of the Hope Restoration Project.

Monosquirrel sighed, setting his palm to his head. “Oh, it’s so sorrowful! Despair is gonna fade out soon, replaced by grotesque hope! Oy vey! What’s there to be done?”

No one answered Monosquirrel’s lamentations. They watched him spin on his tail, heaving out a sigh before popping back onto his feet. Monosquirrel chuckled into his palms and clasped his cheeks.

“With that being said, I want to offer my sincere, heartfelt congratulations to you all for your work in battling despair,” Monosquirrel said, “which is why I’m inviting you all to participate in the P-sychonauts Mutual Killing Game!”

Balking expressions swapped out the confusion and horror. Monosquirrel’s words rained down upon them in a merciless torrent. Dimah snarled that he was ridiculous, but Monosquirrel continued laughing.

“Say what you want, but it’s true. You can’t escape here until the killing game is finished,” Monosquirrel sneered.

“Kill each other? Are you insane?” Jiao hissed, clinging to Danilo.

“Not insane, just despairing! Besides, this will be the third killing game, which makes it third time’s the charm, right?” Monosquirrel gestured at the former counselors. “You have guys are experienced, so I expect your cooperation as the newbies’ seniors in killing game etiquette.”

“Not a chance!” Raz shouted, glaring at Monosquirrel, who replied with another chuckle. “We won’t kill each other again. Not now and not ever again. Your game is already over.”

“Oh, Raz, you simpleton, you shining hopester! The game’s already started,” Monosquirrel said, and a second screen popped up beside him. “Why don’t you take a look?”

The screen showed the outside of the base. Rocky and metallic debris surrounded the runway where the submarines were set and destroyed. Their propellers and windows were smashed with glass and sharp debris, covering the walkway to the entrance. Raz noted the strange fogginess surrounding the feed as if it had been recorded with a cheap cell phone only for his eyes to widen.

The others could only gasp and stare as the shadowed body came into view, but Chloe screamed. Blood slithered down the runway along with torn pieces of fabric. A pair of broken glasses were crushed in the person’s slashed palm. Orange hair was matted with dried blood. The body was simply mutilated, carved like a turkey dinner, with the muscles of his arms and slashed neck painfully in view. The scars on his body were freshly ripped open and drained out to the point where Raz could see bone.

Bobby’s mouth was open in a small gape with his tongue poking out, and dried tears stained his face, mingling with cold sweat and ichor. He laid on his back with a curved knife plunged into his heart. His hands were completely painted with blood along with most of his clothing.

“B-Bobby?” Raz whispered, eyes painfully wide, and Lili covered her mouth next to him.

Chloe would not stop screaming as Monosquirrel guffawed, drinking in the sheer, undeniable horror beseeching the rest of the agents. Azalea closed in on themself, clutching their shoulders and turning away with their eyes clenched shut. Maloof stared down at his feet, too stupefied to remember to shriek while Mikhail’s fingers dug into his forearm, pushing down so painfully as if trying to wake up. Franke covered her eyes, turning away and uttering a sob, and Crystal dropped to her knees, cheeks puffing out as if she would vomit.

“What the fuck did you do to him? What the fuck did you do?” Chloe shrieked, trying to storm forward, but Lili snatched her arms, her own expression drained of color.

“What did I do? Nothing! I’m in Whispering Rock! Consider me the the master of the opening ceremonies,” Monosquirrel said, inspecting his claws.

Lili pinpointed her glare. “Which means you’re being controlled-”

“How the hell are you so calm?” Chloe barked, ripping her arm away from Lili. She snatched Lili’s uniform, pushing her back into the wall as the other branch heads watched. “Bobby’s fucking dead! You’re just standing here making observations that won’t help us! We have to go outside now!”

“Calm down, Chloe! We can’t do much now,” Franke interjected, shaking her head.

“What would you know? You didn’t even live long enough to see a camp trial!” Chloe snapped, and Franke’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

“What the hell did you say to me?” Franke snapped, and D’art seized her wrist.

Maloof opened his mouth, ready to shout when a flash of red caught his attention. Glancing at his wrist, Maloof read the flashing words, gasped, and promptly covered his mouth.

“Silence!” Dimah boomed, ending the argument before it could truly begin. She ran her eyes over the panicked, seething group and lowered her voice. “Monosquirrel, what are your intentions with us?”

“Clean our your ears, hasbeen! A killing game is a classic. In fact, haven’t you all…” Monosquirrel snickered. “...missing one of your own?”

“You murdered Bobby! That’s-!”

“Where’s Mavra?” Vasile demanded, surveying the group and silencing Chloe.

At the sound of his daughter’s name, Grigory stirred and looked around. He rubbed the wariness from his eyes and called Mavra’s name. Tiger set two fingers to his temples, attempting to reach her telepathically only to sense nothing.

“If I could interject,” Monosquirrel sneered, “try looking at the table.”

Raz narrowed his eyes at the table. His eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting, but he could not see anything out of the ordinary until a strange sound assaulted his ears. Like a teardrop landing into a puddle, Raz watched ichor drop from the ceiling and land against the table. Raz’ breath was caught in his throat, and he, along with the others, looked at the chandelier hanging above them.

“I forgot to mention something!” Monosquirrel jeered as quiet gasps of acknowledgement filled the room. “These games always start out with two corpses!”

Pinned to the chandelier with a curved knife stabbed into her heart, legs and arms spread out, was Mavra. Blood dribbled from her mouth into her eyes, staining her sclera crimson. Slash marks were present on her wrists like lopsided ribbons. Her tongue looked as if she had been chomping down on it with it spewed out of her mouth yet with her teeth embedded into it. Monosquirrel’s laughter was like background music in a horror movie as the chandelier shifted, rocked by some invisible force and sent her corpse tumbling off onto the table.

“Mavra! Mavra!” Grigory shrieked, storming for the table, but when he started climbing onto the table, the chandelier broke. The glass edges slammed into her body, gouging into her back and limbs while her neck gave a sickening crack as metal smashed into it. Garbled groans escaped Grigory’s mouth as he clutched his face, shaking his head and dropping to his knees.

“Mavra!” Raz heard Mikhail quietly shriek her name, sending him a glance and finding him looking like a ghost.

“Upupupu!” Monosquirrel raised his paw. “Now, everyone, let’s begin what I hope is our final killing game. The finale between hope and despair. You won’t let Bobby and Mavra die in vain, right, Raz?”

Raz gnashed down on his teeth, feeling as if and Monosquirrel were the only ones present. The oppressive air bore down onto him as the shouts from the others faded out.

“After all, Razputin Aquato, this killing game is our conclusion,” Monosquirrel continued, his face filling the entire screen. “This story will have its end, and this series will be over with you and me. Hope? Despair? Let’s give it everything we’ve got in this exciting, heart-pounding final game! Ahahahahahaha!”

As Monosquirrel laughed, Raz felt the finality pinch at his skin. The killing game’s memories burned in his mind. Corpses and executions, the final expression of his friends before their deaths, and even the mastermind’s despair all tainted his thoughts as Monosquirrel announced the beginning of the end.

The P-sychonauts Mutual Killing Game’s curtain opened, and all that could be seen as far as the eye could see was merciless despair.

but really i have never heard anyone so condescending