What?

I… know it’s a prison.

How do you know?

I DON’T KNOW, OKAY? But… I know that this facility is a prison. Or at least, it was.

Alan stood still for a second. For the first time, he could sense a certain degree of distress within Eve. She had, of course, been concerned, stern, and even commanding before, but this was different. She seemed on edge, almost more human than ever before.

Enough. I detected a faint noise from the highlighted corridor. We should proceed down it to find what we can, then quickly die so we can complete our current main objective. We can return when we figure out more or are at a higher level.

Alan nodded, and made his way over to the indicated corridor. After a short straight passageway a spiral staircase soon appeared. Alan began descending the stairs. A few minutes later he was still walking down the stairs.

I wonder if I could get down faster somehow…

Request acknowledged, an unknown voice said in Alan’s head.

Wait, what?

Suddenly, the stairs shifted, forming rectangular panels that connected to each other, transforming the spiral staircase into a slide. A soft blue glow began to emit from the panel directly beneath Alan, somehow negating most of the friction. Alan began to rapidly slide downwards. Still worried about traps, Alan unsuccessfully tried to manage his speed as he wasn’t sure what he would be finding below. The slide showed no signs of slowing down, and the walls provided no grip. Alan began to feel gravity accelerate him faster, and his stomach began to drop.

As Alan slid down he would occasionally hear the sound of gunfire or yelling, but the sounds were intermittent, hollow, like ghosts in a machine. It was, Alan had to admit, sort of fun, as the speed he was sliding down began to approach that of a fast roller coaster. Then the spiral staircase disappeared, and Alan was flung out into pitch darkness, sliding along an unseen path. It reminded him of a rather unforgiving level in a racing game he used to play, but the road was translucent instead of rainbow. The slope gradually began to rise, then it descended once more, and Alan found himself slowing down.

In the distance flashes of light appeared. He quickly activated his armor’s invisibility. As he drew closer, he could make out the forms of a number of players fending off a metal, humanoid monstrosity. The abomination of flesh and metal was nearly ten feet tall, sporting blades grafted onto its two arms, a face half covered by a mask full of tubes and wires. The rest of its body was likewise covered in scars, metal plates, wires, and tubes; the creature had two clawed feet as well. As Alan felt himself slow down, he saw that the remaining half of its face was simply a lump of flesh, devoid of anything resembling an appendage. Yet, the monster leapt about with ease. A name tag appeared above the monstrosity: Experimental Warden.