Fan's POV:

I took a deep, shaky breath as we made our way to the school.

Lightbulb was left with the others so that nothing would happen to her.

I didn't want to have to go back.

But it was necessary.

Eventually, Paintbrush, Balloon, Nickel, and I, all made it to the school.

It seemed to loom over us.

Just seeing it again made me upset, knowing that this is where it all started.

Knowing that this...

...that this was where Test Tube met her end...

I held my breath when we entered, not daring to make any noise.

It looked abandoned.

Police tape was blocking the area where the gym was.

We stopped and stared for a bit, all of us questioning wether this was worth it.

Paintbrush exhaled.

"C'mon." They said, before slipping under the police tape.

Hesitated, but then followed everyone else under the police tape.

I looked back before walking into the gym though, staring at all of the spots we used to hang out.

Staring at the place where the principal's office was.

Staring at the places we met.

It was hard remembering all of this.

Remembering how happy I was before this all happened, how I was just a normal kid at a normal school.

Now I was just scared.

Scared of every little sound and sight that reminded me of the lab.

I wished that I could have my normal life back.

"Are you coming Fan?" Balloon called out from the gym.

I jumped at the sudden noise.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." I mumbled, before slipping under another strip of police tape, and entering the gym.

I looked around, remembering everything just a little too well.

And there on the ground was the camera.

"Still in the same condition it was left in..." Paintbrush mumbled, kicking one of the umbrella pieces a bit.

"Alright, who's first?" Nickel asked.

"Nobody is going first or last, we're all going together." Paintbrush responded

Nickel frowned, obviously wanting to go last.

I could tell he was trying to pretend not to be nervous.

Paintbrush then lined everyone up in front of the camera.

They then reached over, and pressed the now very dusty red button.

Everyone shut their eyes except for Nickel, who let out a surprised yelp.

"Ow, why is that so bright?!" Nickel exclaimed, before being shushed by Paintbrush.

I looked around, and shuddered.

We were back in the lab.

I felt nauseous just remembering what happened.

There were still a few blood stains on the ground.

I noticed that all of the boxes were broken open though.

"It looks like a hurricane went through here." I whispered.

Paintbrush nodded in agreement.

"Yeah but uh, lets stop staring and find Taco before Cobs realizes we're here." Nickel whispered.

Paintbrush led the way, them being the strongest in the group and possibly the bravest.

Nickel stayed in the back, keeping watch from behind.

The lab was abnormally dark.

I recognized this as the way Balloon and I ran, but something was off.

"Crud..." I heard Balloon mumble.

It took me a moment to realize why, but then I saw it.

The window we had used to escape was now boarded up.

This was a mistake...

Our only exit that we knew of was gone.

Even if we did find Taco, how were we going to escape?

"We'll find another exit, for now we just need to focus on finding Taco okay?" Paintbrush said, before continuing to walk.

I could tell that they were doubting themself though, not even they were sure if they could find another exit.

We continued walking for a while, and Nickel and I decided to trade places because Balloon was starting to panic a little, so Nickel decided to try and comfort him.

After a while, I began to hear footsteps behind me.

I whipped around, but nothing was there.

Calm yourself Fan... you're just being paranoid...

I hugged myself and continued walking, looking back every once in a while.

After some time of walking and checking in each room, we found one that was locked.

"Is this it?" Balloon asked in a whisper.

"I think so." Paintbrush responded, trying to peek in the cracks.

I stood there and waited, when I began to hear footsteps again.

I turned around again, expecting nothing to be there this time.

I was wrong to assume so.

I screamed and stumbled backwards, bumping into Nickel and causing him to fall and hit Balloon.

"Fan what the he-" Nickel snapped, turning around before stopping mid sentence.

The others turned around as well.

We all stared, not knowing how to react.

There stood Cobs right in front of us with a large grin on his face.

"It seems you've brought yourselves to me, hm?" He sneered, grabbing my arm.

I screamed again and kicked him, trying to get him to let go.

Balloon curled into a ball and started crying, while Nickel stood up to protect him.

Paintbrush balled up their fists, ready to attack at any second.

Without any hesitation, Cobs called in a few MePhones, who then seized the others and threw them into the locked room.

Cobs threw me in along with them.

Paintbrush got up quickly and attempted to run out of the room, but the door slammed shut before they had the chance.

They slammed their fist onto the door in anger, then sunk to their knees.

I glanced around the room and noticed Taco unconcious in the corner.

There were bandages wrapped around her.

I rushed over and attempted to wake her up.

After a while, she finally opened her eyes.

"What the-" she mumbled, trying to stand up before grabbing her side and falling back to the ground in pain.

"U-um- dont move for now- just rest, we're trying to find a way out." I stuttered, my voice shaking a bit.

Taco stared, then nodded a bit.

Balloon was now huddled in the corner, still crying, and Nickel was trying to calm him down.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS." Paintbrush said, standing up with their hands on their head and pacing around the room.

They eventually began cursing under their breath.

I sighed.

This was a bad idea...

We're stuck here again...

I looked around for anything that could get us out, but saw nothing.

It's hopeless...

After a while, I eventually just sat against the wall, and wrapped my arms around my legs.

I glanced over at Paintbrush, who had now given up on pounding on the door and pacing.

I could tell they were still upset, but they just stared at the ground silently.

Balloon was no longer crying, and Nickel was still just sitting with Balloon.

Taco was still in the corner, wincing at any sudden movement.

I then looked at the ceiling for a while.

Then I noticed something.

A small metal box, with a long metal tube-like thing connecting it to the door.

Then I realized what it was.

A power box.

I gasped and scrambled to my feet, the others turning to me with a confused look.

I then turned to Taco.

"Do you still have that tazer?" I asked, rushing over to her.

She gave a small smile, then pulled out the tazer.

"He didn't see me grab it." She said with a smirk, before handing over the tazer.

A wide smile spread across my face.

"Thanks Taco!" I said, before rushing over to the center of the room.

"I have a plan guys."

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Lightbulb's POV:

They've been gone for a while now.

I'm starting to worry.

They said they would be right back, but they haven't returned.

Unless they have and nobody told me?

I'm not sure.

I shuffled where I was sitting, hoping for any information about them.

Nothing.

Instead of asking, I just waited patiently, despite the anxiety.

I fiddled with the bandana wrapped around my head that was covering my eye.

Painty had given it to me so people wouldn't be scared of me or make fun of me

They said it had yellow hearts on it.

It was smooth and soft, and calmed me down, knowing that it was from Painty.

I hope they're ok...

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Taco's POV:

I watched as Paintbrush held Fan up to the little metal box on the ceiling.

Fan would stumble a bit every once in a while, and Paintbrush would fuss at him to stop moving so much.

Finally, after a lot of struggling from the two, Fan finally managed to touch the box with the tip of the tazer.

"Yes!" He exclaimed in a sort of whisper.

He then pressed the button on the tazer, causing it to zap the box.

It sparked for a couple seconds, before the doors began to malfunction, and finally, open.

A huge smile spread across Fan's face, before he suddenly fell to the floor.

"Ow!" He said, sitting up and rubbing his head.

Painbrush pulled him to his feet and he thanked them.

Balloon scrambled to his feet and let out a quiet cheer.

Nickel smiled.

Honestly, I was proud of Fan for coming up with an idea like that.

Fan then rushed over to me.

"Is there any way we can get you out of here without hurting you?" He asked quietly.

"I'll be fine, I can handle the pain, just help me up really quick." I responded.

He nodded and helped me up.

It hurt, but I just had to push through it.

He put one of my arms over his shoulder, and helped me to walk.

It was a bit difficult, due to me being shorter than him, but we managed to make it work.

"Alright let's go, mind if I have the tazer Fan?" Paintbrush asked.

Fan nodded and handed the tazer over.

Paintbrush held the tazer tightly, then signaled for us to follow.

We ended up at a corner, and heard voices.

"What do we do?!" Fan whispered to Paintbrush.

Paintbrush glanced around for a bit before they seemed to have an idea.

"We use bait." They said.

They then looked at Nickel.

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Mic's POV:

It was mostly quiet.

Everyone was still a bit shaken up by their encounter with Cobs, but it didn't seem to be too bad at the moment.

I was still shocked that Taco was back.

Pickle was too.

I decided to write about my "friendship" with her, from before I finally realized she used me, and showed it to Pickle.

Pickle and I hang out a lot more, now that he knows I was used too.

We have a lot more in common than I thought.

Communication is still a bit hard for me, because I'm still used to talking, but that isn't really an option for me.

My wires were all ruined because of Cobs and sometimes, if I bump into a wall or something, I glitch out really bad.

I've kinda gotten used to it though.

I looked over at Soap, who was playing a board game with YinYang.

Yang kept cheating and Yin was fussing at him for that, but it was honestly kind of nice to see them becoming themselves again.

I walked over to soap, and sat down next to her on the couch she was sitting on.

"Oh hey Mic!" Soap said smiling.

I opened my mouth to talk, but stopped when nothing came out.

I just waved instead with a small smile.

"How are you holding up?" She asked.

I gave her a thumbs up.

She giggled a little.

"Thats good! Hey you wanna play with us? We're playing monopoly!" Soap exclaimed.

"Yeah you should play wi-!" Yin exclaimed before getting cut off.

"No! You shouldn't join!" Yang said with a smirk.

I just raised an eyebrow and smiled.

I nodded in response to Soaps offer.

After a while, we finally finished the game of monopoly.

Yang ended up winning due to him cheating, but we all ignored it.

It took at least an hour for us to finish the game.

I gave Yang a thumbs up as a congratulations, and decided I was going to go.

"Oh, you're leaving?" Soap asked.

I nodded.

"Oh alright, talk to you later Mic!" She waved as I walked off.

I then noticed Lightbulb sitting on a chair by the front door of the building.

I walked up to her, and sat down.

"Who's there?" She asked.

I tapped her leg three times.

"Oh, hey Mic."

We had developed a way of communicating through taps.

Because I can't talk, I would have to write out my sentences, but because she can't see, she can't read what I've written.

So we had to improvise.

If she asked who was there, I would tap her three times to let her know it was me.

She could only ask yes or no questions for me, but she would make up some different ways of communication occasionally.

Usually it was one tap for yes, and two taps for no.

"Are they back yet?" Lightbulb asked.

I knew that by "they," she meant Fan, Paintbrush, Nickel, and Balloon.

They had gone to try and get Taco back.

It was very risky, but I was sure they would figure something out.

I tapped her let twice, meaning no.

She frowned.

"Oh..." she mumbled.

I frowned upon seeing her sad face.

I knew she cared a lot about them, they were her friends after all.

I stood up and gave her a hug.

She hugged me back.

"Thanks Mic."

I looked around for something else that might help cheer her up.

I noticed a little flower pot on the table.

If she couldn't see, at least she could feel.

I walked over to the pot, and picked a rose out from it, handing it to Lightbulb.

The thorns were cut off luckily, so it couldn't hurt her.

I placed it gently in her hands and she felt it for a moment, before smiling.

"Is this a flower?" She asked.

I tapped her leg once for yes.

She felt it for a bit longer, before holding it close to her chest.

"I feel better now." She said with a small smile.

I smiled as well.

I then tapped her leg four times, which means "I'm going to go," or "goodbye."

"Oh, ok. Thanks again Mic!" She said, still holding the flower.

I smiled one last time before walking off.

I walked into the kitchen to get something to eat.

I then sat down on the counter, with a piece of toast and jam, and thought.

I hoped that the rescue mission would be a success.

If not...

...we could have a problem.

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(I'm going to be updating more frequently because we are nearing the end of this book! I really hope you enjoyed this story so far! Stay tuned for the finale!)