Cabby felt ice through her veins as Suitcase confirmed the scene over pager. Jack injured, Test Tube dead. Fan attacked Jack. No further information at the time. Cabby quickly scrawled the messages on a post-it note. She wasn’t sure what to do next. OJ and Suitcase were on scene, but it was evident from the crowd gathering in the main room that people had heard the commotion. The fact that Walkie-Talkie had snuck on channel four and rightfully freaked out didn’t help one bit.
Cabby didn’t know what to do. Test Tube was just fine when the group had left to vote on the elimination, and suddenly she was dead?! It didn’t feel true. It just didn’t. Just earlier that day, Test Tube was with Fan, helping set up and play the game that Fan was trying to bring back. The game that led to Test Tube’s death.
Cabby tried to shake off her own emotions. Right now, society wanted answers, and she was the one who had to give it to them, whether she liked it or not. She couldn’t avoid this, because the longer she waited, the worse the anxiety and rumors would get. So whether she liked it or not, Cabby was the one that would have to deal with this. She ran her thumb over the post-it. Her vision was getting blurry, but she wiped the worries away and wheeled into the main room.
The room fell silent as she made her way onto her podium. They were all watching her anxiously, waiting for what she would say. Cabby let in a breath, out, and spoke.
“There’s…there’s no way to beat around the bush with this.” Cabby started. “I-”
“Is someone dead?!” Cheesy interrupted. Immediately, an uproar occurred as several objects began arguing with each other.
“There’s no way-”
“I’m sure someone just got injured and they’ll be fine-”
“Why did the Safety-”
“Walkie-talkie said that-”
“Who’s unaccounted for at the mome-”
“Everyone, shut up!” Microphone’s voice rang out over the crowd, and they all fell silent and looked in her direction. Microphone pointed to Cabby. At that, they all turned to look at Cabby again. At this new silence, Cabby sent a thank-you glance to Microphone before speaking up again.
“I don’t have further information yet, but here is what I know.” Cabby said. “At the voting tonight for the game, a distress signal was sent out from a pager. Lifering arrived to the scene, and Suitcase and OJ are now there as well. As for the reason for the distress signal…” Cabby didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to confirm it to herself, and to the crowd. “Test Tube is dead.” Cabby said. Gasps of shock rang through the audience. “Test Tube is dead, and Jack is injured. That’s all the information I have at the moment. I… I’m sorry I don’t have more.”
“What happened?!” Someone called out. Cabby couldn’t see who.
“I don’t know, as I said I don’t have further information just yet. Suitcase and OJ are at the scene.”
“Why don’t they have further information?” Walkie-talkie asked.
I don’t know, why don’t you check yourself? Cabby thought with a tinge of irritation. But she didn’t say it. There was chaos and chatter enough as is.
“I knew the game was a bad idea!” Cabby heard someone say. Toilet. “Now look what happened!”
“Hey, that’s insensitive!” Poppy shot back, facing him, and then another shouting match was added onto the quickly-increasing pile. Cabby genuinely did not know how to crowd-control, and this crowd was getting out of control. She tried to speak, but anything she said was quickly drowned out by the noise. The noise was getting louder, and louder, but then it was stopped suddenly. Someone had thrown open the doors, and was standing at the entrance. OJ.
Several questions flooded him at once, the amount turning the talking into borderline nonsense. Cabby watched as OJ tried to get through the crowd, failed, and tried again. Paper was close behind him, as well as Box, Metag, and Fan. Through the open door, Cabby could see the golf cart speed off in the distance toward the hospital. There were going to be so many loose ends that were going to need to be tied. And Cabby had a feeling that the next week was not going to get any easier.
“It’s up to you what happens next, but you’re never gonna learn if there aren’t any stakes.” Fan clarified. Jack didn’t seem to take this new news of the scoreboard very well, but he’d get used to it whether he liked it or not. Fan just hoped that he wouldn’t be mad for too long.
“And neither will you!” Jack retorted. Fan was a little confused by what he meant by that, but he wasn’t thinking too much of it until Jack threw his pager. Fan followed the electronic with mild bewilderment. At the rate it was traveling, it didn’t seem like it was going to hit anything. That was, until it hit Bot’s leg. In their startlement, their grip slipped, and suddenly Test Tube was falling.
“Test Tube!” Fan cried out. Time slowed for a moment. Thinking quickly, Fan snatched the Blue-Ray and fumbled for the safety. It wasn’t clicking. But finally, it came through, and Fan swung the gun up, aiming to fire. He couldn’t get a clear shot, couldn’t get it! But it was now or never, and Fan pulled the trigger.
The first thing he heard was a shatter. Then a shimmering chime as the Blue-Ray hit the leaderboard, turning a part of it blue. The second thing he heard was Bot’s scream. Fan almost didn’t want to look, but the evidence was right there in front of him. Test Tube was gone.
Punishment Enough is an AU that diverges off of Inanimate Insanity Season 4 Episode Two. In this AU, Fan misses the shot and Test Tube shatters. What happens from then? Come read, watch, listen, and learn.
(Fair warning from mod (chopstick heartes), this AU does bring up some rough and uncertain topics, but please treat it as more of an Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings rating right now. Warnings will change as we go along but right now I'm trying to prevent spoilers.)
(ALSO MOD HERE. IF THIS BLOG REBLOGS ANYTHING NO IT DIDN'T. I DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT SO THAT I CANT REBLOG ANYTHING HERE AND GOOGLE IS STUPID)
Full Timeline under the Keep Reading (Will be updated as more posts are added)
yousharknotpass
blakekathryn
stormborns
vaporwave
titsay