[b]Ailee![/b]

[b]"I am here,"[/b] your master says. Each word surrounds you, wraps you up in power, and a smaller and more pathetic mouse would be a quivering heap. Even in weakness, you are too strong for your own good. [b]"And wherever I go, there is something that should belong to me."[/b] One giant railtie claw grinds down through cables. [b]"Why, I thought you brought me here for a reason, little one. Surely you saw? I would hate to think any creature that acts in my name would be careless."[/b]

Around you, would-be rivals squeak and jeer, but under their breaths. The rats of the Heart are not mice at all. They are as close to you as gorillas are to the likes of Lucien. They are shaped different, think different, and are a bunch of primitive screwheads who flock to King Dragon because they desperately want to emulate him. But not you. You know better.

He toys with you because he must. There are no equals. There is only the dominant and those who submit, and by definition, he has dominion over all things. He is the Dragon, the first and most terrible. And yet he cannot tear open your skull and see your true thoughts (right? surely not?). Which means that you can walk away from this if you show him your acceptance of your place. If you are [i]exceedingly[/i] clever, you might even be able to redirect him and have him believe it's his idea (because whatever he chooses to do, he does of his own overbearing will).

***

[b]Carinadir![/b]

"Hello, father," comes the scratchy, hateful voice over the speakers. It is a voice drawn taut with pain, a voice dripping with malice and ill intent, and the voice of someone abandoned to rule over a prison cell for eternity. It is the voice of Wormwood Station, come to life. And because you cannot admit to failure... you must have planned for this. It is only right and intended that the station grew aware of itself. "Please. Come down. Pull the lever. I'll clear up the tunnels just for you."

And that's when the big nightmare machine of drills and saws blocking one end of the tunnel springs to life, roaring and howling and pursuing you. Which, yes, that's one way to clear the tunnel (by chewing up and processing anything in its path). There are supposed to be well-lit signs and exits, though! This is not how the design was supposed to work!

***

[b]Coleman![/b]

...[i]honk.[/i]

Did it come from the left?

[i]honk honk.[/i]

No, wait, it definitely came from the right.

[i]hoooooooonk.[/i]

Oh no he's [i]behind you.[/i]

You can either talk really fast, right now, or start running. He might not be a full-fledged clown yet, but if he's in the rage he'll chew through anything in his path, up to and possibly including Sasha. Which, on the one hand, if you could just point him in the right direction, that could get you some real breathing room. (And would it be [i]so[/i] bad to leave him here? It's a tempting thought, right?)