A/N: This chapter is from an old chapter so that the word count wasn't over 3500 (This one and the one after it reached 3900); I apologize if you were expecting a new chapter.
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The duo stood before a door with a sign that said 'Office' above it before Michelle placed her hand on the doorknob and twisted it. After Michelle opened the door, the duo saw a brown door with a window before approaching it.
After Michelle opened the other door, the duo saw a large hole leading to a room with multiple office desks. "No sign of CatNap in this area..." she said in a low voice.
DogDay nodded. "Let's keep it that way," he said before the duo entered.
The duo walked past a few desks until they stood before a door on the far right. Michelle placed her hand on the doorknob and tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Damn, we'll need a key," she said.
DogDay turned his head to the left and froze a bit. "That room..." he said in a low voice.
When Michelle turned her head to the left, she saw a door with words painted on the glass that said 'Head of Playcare: Stella Greyber'. "Stella's office..." she said before the duo approached it. "That might hold something important."
When the duo was near the door, Michelle placed her hand on the doorknob before twisting it. After Michelle opened the door, they entered an office room with a TV on top of a filing cabinet and a pink VHS player on top of a box.
Michelle turned her head to the left and spotted a pink VHS tape on a desk. Michelle approached the desk and picked up the tape. "What do you hold...?" she asked in a low voice before approaching the player.
After Michelle inserted the tape into the player, the duo looked at the TV as it booted up. Soon after, the duo heard paper shuffling before a door opened in the background. "Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Hartmann? Come on in! Please, have a seat!" Stella shouted.
The duo heard footsteps in the background before it went silent. "How was your ride down?" Stella asked.
"It was... nothing like we were expecting. Mr. Ludwig's speech was... well, it just confirms for us that you're the orphanage we want to go through," Mr. Hartmann said.
DogDay glared at the TV. "It's a truly magical place; I felt right at home from the second I entered," Stella said.
Michelle crossed her arms. "You open the door the first time, and you just know you're never going to leave... kind of like finding a home as a child, and always thinking of it when you want to feel comforted," Stella continued.
The duo heard Stella clear her throat. "I understand you want to give Jeremy that home," she continued.
"Yes, and we would like to adopt," Mrs. Hartmann said.
The duo heard papers shuffling in the background. "Amazing! You'll be perfect for... oh..." Stella said.
Michelle stared at the TV, concerned. "W-What?" Mrs. Hartmann asked.
"Well, it appears there's... been some complications," Stella said.
"Complications...? W-What kind of complications?" Mrs. Hartmann asked.
"I-I don't know. Uhm... the form says 'Testing'..." Stella said.
"What does that mean... tell us, what does that mean?!" Mrs. Hartmann shouted.
"Ms. Greyber, we deserve a better explanation than that, don't you think?!" Mr. Hartmann shouted.
"You're in charge of all this; how could you not know?!" Mrs. Hartmann shouted.
"And why are we only finding out about this now?!" Mr. Hartmann shouted.
"I-I don't... I'm sorry," Stella said before the video ended.
The duo stared at the TV. "I would've assumed that she had no idea about the experiments, but since she's the head of this place... something tells me she knew all along," Michelle said.
DogDay grabbed the TV with a shout, which surprised Michelle, as he pulled the cord out of the plug and the AV cables out of the VHS player before throwing it against the wall hard, which shattered it to pieces and hit the ground.
Michelle looked at the wall, shocked, before turning her head to DogDay as he was trying to catch his breath, seething in anger. Michelle looked at DogDay's hand before holding one of his fingers, which made him flinch and look at her.
DogDay looked down and placed his free hand over his eyes. "I... I'm sorry..." he said in a low voice. "I usually keep a cool head in those kinds of situations..."
Michelle shook her head. "It's fine..." she said, which made DogDay pull his hand away from his eyes before looking at her. "I would've done the same thing, too..."
DogDay stared at Michelle before looking at her with happy eyes. "Thank you for your empathy, Misha," he said.
Michelle smiled and let go of DogDay's finger before looking around; when she looked up, she spotted something shining inside the vent.
Michelle grabbed the left arm cannon's handle before aiming at the vent grille and pulling the trigger, launching the blue hand and grabbing it before pulling it open, which made a key drop to the ground.
After the blue hand retracted back to Michelle, she approached the key before picking it up. "You're the key we need," she said before turning to DogDay. "C'mon, let's get out of here."
DogDay nodded before the duo approached; when they stood before the door, Michelle inserted the key into the lock and twisted it, which unlocked it.
Michelle let go of the key and placed her hand on the doorknob before twisting it; after she opened the door, the duo entered the hallway and walked forward.
As the duo turned left, they saw a cutout of the anthropomorphic unicorn toy, but with clean white skin and clean aqua hooves, tail, mane, and the inside of its ears. "CraftyCorn..." DogDay said in a low voice before looking down with somber eyes. "Hopefully, the others in Safe Haven are doing alright..."
Michelle turned her head to DogDay. "Hey, no need to feel down," she said, which made him look at her. "When this is all over, we can head to Safe Haven next."
DogDay looked at Michelle, confused. "We?" he asked.
Michelle nodded. "Well, yeah, I still need to find Kevin and Katelynn in this place," she said. "Maybe going further down can help me."
DogDay stared at Michelle before looking away, and his eyes went dark. "That makes sense..." he said in a low voice.
Michelle noticed DogDay was trembling a bit, which made her face stoic. Their group is hiding something from me; it seems like I'll have to do Mommy's plan, but now is not the right time, she thought.
Michelle approached the stairs beside the CraftyCorn cutout. "Let's see where these stairs take us," she said before going down them.
DogDay looked at Michelle with worried eyes before nodding and going down the stairs and catching up to her. At the end of the hallway, the duo looked up and saw a large handle. "It looks like you'll be doing some wall jumping again," Michelle said.
DogDay nodded before he knelt and held his hand out to Michelle. "Climb on," he said.
Michelle nodded as she let go of the left arm cannon's handle and got on DogDay's hand before he raised it to his shoulder, which made her get on it before holding it tight.
After DogDay stood up, he looked forward and stepped back; after he stopped, he sprinted forward and jumped toward the wall. DogDay kept wall jumping until he grabbed the handle; he turned his head to the right and spotted a large vent.
DogDay grabbed Michelle off his shoulder before placing her in the vent, which made her crawl forward. While Michelle reached the end of the vent, she looked down and spotted Red Smoke coming out of the vent grille.
Michelle grabbed her gas mask off the GrabPack's hook before putting it on. "Now I can enter," she said in a muffled voice before jumping down.
Michelle pushed the vent grille open with her feet before landing on a table. After Michelle got on the ground, DogDay landed on the table before getting off.
Michelle looked through the hole and spotted the door with a battery inside the socket, which made her approach it and grab the left arm cannon's handle. "Time to bring you back into this room," she said in a muffled voice before aiming at its handle and pulling the trigger.
The blue hand shot forward and grabbed the battery's handle before pulling it out of the socket.
After the blue hand retracted back to Michelle with the battery, she glanced at the cables near the door. "Since there are cables near that door, there has to be a power outlet around here somewhere," she said in a muffled voice.
When Michelle approached the battery socket and placed the battery inside, a green light shone behind a metal door, which made the duo look at it.
Michelle approached the metal door and grabbed it with her free hand before opening it, which revealed a green power socket. "There you are," she said in a muffled voice as she let go of the left arm cannon's handle before grabbing the right arm cannon's handle and twisting the knob.
The purple hand switched to the green hand. "Since there are three of those cables, there might be three input sockets in the office rooms behind metal doors like this one," Michelle continued in a muffled voice before looking at DogDay. "Let's get them open."
DogDay nodded as the duo entered different office rooms. Michelle approached the metal door and grabbed it before opening it, which revealed a green input socket.
DogDay approached the metal door and grabbed it before opening it, revealing a different green input socket.
After Michelle opened the metal door in the third office, she got out of it before aiming the right arm cannon at the green power socket. "Now, to do this right," she said in a muffled voice before pulling the trigger.
The green hand shot forward and touched the power socket, which powered it up; after it retracted back to Michelle, she aimed the right arm cannon at the farthest green input socket and pulled the trigger.
The green hand shot forward and touched the green input socket, which powered it up before it retracted back to Michelle. After Michelle repeated the process for the other green input sockets, the door opened. "Let's move!" Michelle shouted in a muffled voice.
DogDay nodded as the duo sprinted through the opening before the door closed behind them. Michelle took her gas mask off with a sigh before hanging it on one of the GrabPack's hooks. "Now, let's see what we're working with," she said before the duo walked forward.