[Scene 1: Protocol Panic and Forced Ejection]
The lights didn't just die; the air curdled.
The fiery red text—PROTOCOL ACTIVATION IMMINENT. SEEK SHELTER. ENEMY INBOUND.—burned itself into Astrid Laura's retinas before her tablet finally went dark. A low, subterranean groan shook the very foundations of Leo's beloved Toasted Blanket Fortress.
"Data point: This is a Class Seven Egress Scenario," Astrid snapped, immediately shifting from critique mode to survival mode. She grabbed the smoking drone wreckage. "We need to evacuate to a secure, fortified location with predictable infrastructure, now."
Leo, still half-buried in plush cushions, frowned. His comfort was collapsing. "Infrastructure? This entire neighborhood just went from 'charming decay' to 'cosmic distress signal.' And 'egress' is too many syllables for a crisis."
Lulu, surprisingly calm, was already snapping photos of the blackout-stricken apartment with her mini instant camera. "Ooh, the chiaroscuro is amazing! A great opening shot for Leo's 'Cosmic Naptime' series!"
"Lulu, darling, put the camera down. The universe is having an anxiety attack," Leo pleaded. He felt the terrifying return of the Cosmic Insomnia, the agonizing pressure to move. He desperately wanted to sink back into Inertia, but the Protocol was forcing him toward action—the worst possible philosophical betrayal.
Astrid didn't wait. She grabbed Leo by the collar of his hoodie. "Your Inertia drew the enemy, Vance. We move. Now. Before that Protocol assigns you a mission you can't nap your way out of." Her grip was shockingly strong, a fact Leo filed away under "Unexpected Physical Strength of the Administratively Competent."
[Scene 2: Descent into the Clockwork Metro]
They burst out of the Fortress, leaving behind a smoking, crumpled monument to comfort. The ordinary street was warped: the asphalt rippled and flickered with faint TV static, and the air hummed with a dizzying, low-frequency sound. Astrid dragged Leo towards the nearest subway entrance—the Clockwork Metro.
As they descended the stairs, the architecture itself shifted. The mundane subway tunnel twisted, its walls now displaying massive, turning gears, glowing with brass and copper. Time settings flickered across the walls like glitching LED displays. The smell of ozone and old oil was overwhelming.
"This infrastructure is definitely not predictable," Leo noted, leaning heavily on the banister. "It's actively contradicting its own existence. This is why I avoid movement."
Astrid adjusted her digital tablet, which had partially rebooted but was flickering erratically. "The Protocol has corrupted local dream-reality. The Clockwork Metro is supposed to be a portal hub, used for rapid escapes. We need to reach the central line before the entire system locks down."
She glanced at Leo, assessing his condition. He was pale and shaking from the Insomnia. "You need to initiate Cosmic Inertia again, Vance. Stabilize the track ahead of us."
"Let me nap on it." Leo sighed, his catchphrase a defense mechanism. "I am philosophically opposed to using maximum comfort as a tool for rapid transit. It's against the spirit of Sloth."
"Facts first, feelings later!" Astrid snapped. "The fact is, if you don't stabilize this carriage, the time settings will revert, and we'll be crushed into the Neolithic era. Choose."
[Scene 3: The Slapstick Protocol Trigger]
The argument was cut short by a fresh wave of psychic dread. Small, swirling masses of shadow, the minor Void Whispers, coalesced at the end of the train platform, hissing a low chorus of self-doubt. They were feeding on the metro's generalized commuter anxiety.
"Enemy inbound!" Astrid yelled, pulling a surprisingly tactical defensive position.
Leo panicked. Not because of the shadow monsters, but because one Whisper was approaching a vending machine. That vending machine was stocked with his favorite limited-edition caramel clusters.
"NO! You will not compromise my premium snack supply!"
With a roar that was entirely not heroic, Leo lurched forward. He moved with sudden, unplanned, frantic speed—a complete violation of every Inertia principle he held dear. He threw himself at the vending machine.
The sudden, chaotic movement—fueled purely by snack preservation—was the final, unplanned trigger the Protocol needed.
A blinding, turbulent wave of energy erupted from Leo. It wasn't the golden, controlled pulse from Chapter 1; this was a violent Static Spark. The energy surged out of him, frying the Void Whispers into faint, defeated clouds of smoke.
But the force of the discharge wasn't controlled. Leo smashed hard into the vending machine, collapsing backward onto the cold, gear-filled floor.
The Dream Weaver Protocol was now fully awake.
[Scene 4: Arrival of the Muscle]
The train tracks ahead of them warped violently, turning into pure, glowing crimson scrapcode. The metro groaned, threatening to tear apart.
"That was incredibly effective, terribly inefficient, and technically an assault on private property!" Astrid yelled, already scrambling to read the new data on her tablet. "Congratulations, Vance, you've hit a power-up milestone by being reckless."
Before Astrid could finish her analysis, a monstrous figure landed on the platform, scattering steam and static. It was Mason "Tank" Hayes, towering and rugged, wearing a track suit despite the chaos. He cracked his knuckles, the sound like breaking ceramic.
"Look at this mess!" Tank boomed, his voice echoing in the metallic space. "My internal comms went nuts! You guys looking to fight, or are you just admiring the architecture?"
He took one look at the collapsed Leo. "Is this the legendary slacker? Looks weak!"
"He just stabilized a cosmic flicker with his butt, Tank!" Lulu called out, snapping a picture.
Astrid stepped forward, blocking Tank's view of Leo. "Identify yourself. Are you a variable or an asset? Provide a logical objective."
Tank merely grinned, flexing slightly. "Let's smash AND grab! The objective is getting the golden boy out before the train turns into a blender!".
[Scene 5: Chaos, Gadget, and Cliffhanger]
Before Astrid could register the threat of the smasher or the grabber, the Protocol responded to the team's combined presence (Logic, Inertia, Muscle, Naivety).
A small, high-tech device clattered onto the floor near Leo's head. It was a bracelet with a spinning blue gem—the REMulator Band.
At the same instant, etched not onto the blanket wall, but violently projected onto the metallic gears of the metro wall in shimmering green glyphs, appeared an urgent set of instructions:
ACQUIRE:The Red TeapotII. LOCATION: Rooftop Carnival III. URGENCY: Before the Lunar Cycle shifts.
"The Protocol is feeding us mission data," Astrid breathed, her logical mind overriding the panic. She recognized the task: solve the dream clue, The Red Teapot.
Tank, however, didn't care for data. He was already kicking a nearby loose plate of metal towards a new wave of Void Whispers. "Too slow! More things are coming!"
The floor beneath them shrieked as a massive, corrupted gear—part of the Metro's structural integrity—pulled loose and began to spin toward the platform, threatening to grind the entire area into metallic dust.
CLIFFHANGER:
Astrid lunged for the REMulator Band just as the Metro lights failed entirely, plunging the team into a blackout. The huge gear was seconds away from crushing them. A low, terrifying voice echoed in the total darkness, right near Leo's ear:
"You may stabilize reality, Slacker. But you cannot stabilize fear.".