Thank You For Your Time

"Wait, there are how many floors?" Andrei asked.

"Fifteen." Ulrich sighed. This pure white building in front of them had fifteen floors within it, and the gemstone was more than likely within one of those.

"So, anyone go into the building?"

Silvia waved them hello when they turned around to see her.

"We didn't see anyone, anyway." Andrei replied.

"So we got free reign of the place? Nice." Silvia nodded.

Her and Seeta sauntered into the room, and team Ulrich followed.

"So which floor are you guys checking?" Seeta asked.

"We'll check…the first half of the building. So you guys start on floor eight." Silvia replied.

"Wait, who are you voting off if you win?" Andrei asked cautiously.

"Oh shit, the votes." Silvia whispered. "I guess I'd vote for…"

"Amber?" Seeta asked.

"Oh, duh!" Silvia yelled, lightly slapping herself in the head. "Yeah, I'm voting for Amber. You guys?"

"Guess I'll vote Amber." Ulrich shrugged.

"I'll just let Ulrich do it." Andrei sighed. "I know Amber did some bad things, but I still don't want to kill her."

"Real noble, man." Silvia nodded lightly. "Now then, floor eight. Get to it."

Ulrich and Andrei walked to the elevator, and Silvia walked around the first floor, checking the first dance hall. Another place that looked like it would host a wedding reception. A stage for musicians, ribbons everywhere, small circular tables to put food on, and a big floor for dancing.

"Check under the tables." Silvia ordered calmly. She did as she asked Seeta, looking under all the tables and inspecting the ribbons for anything suspicious. Nothing so far.

"Hey Seeta, you see anything?" Silvia asked.

"Nope." Seeta replied.

"Right, next floor?"

Silvia stepped out of the room, going towards the elevator closest to her, and calmly pressing the call button. Nothing happened. She pressed it again, slightly harder this time. Still nothing.

"That's a lift to the basement." Seeta explained calmly. Silvia looked up, seeing the worn-down sign that said 'Basement' and looked away.

"Hey, is that a keycard slot?" She whispered to herself as she inspected next to the door.

"Keycard?" Seeta asked.

"You know, like a key. But in card form. Went to a hotel with them once, they're pretty cool."

"Ah. You think the gem is down there?"

"It's a possibility, anyway. I'll tell the guys." Silvia replied, tapping on her watch.

"You see anything?" Ulrich asked, checking underneath the food trays of the kitchen.

"Nothing so far." Andrei replied, removing the blue tablecloths off the tables, not seeing anything.

"Damn." Ulrich sighed, before the notification came in.

'Look out 4 keycardz. Theres a slot on floor 1.'

"Yo Andrei, you see any keycards?"

"Any what?"

"Keycards. Like keys but for electronic doors. They're basically just plastic cards, look out for them."

Ulrich looked around the room. Empty fridge, empty cutlery drawer, empty ovens.

"You seeing anything, Andrei?"

"Nope."

"Alright, let's move on." Ulrich sighed.

Once they were outside, looking through the hallways at the multiple hotel rooms, Ulrich considered checking them. But honestly, going through another series of rooms to find things sounded like hell, a hell that could hopefully be avoided.

As they made their way through the hallways, Ulrich spotted a small janitors cart next to an elevator.

"Wait a minute." Ulrich put a hand up to Andrei's head. "Janitor cart."

"Yes, it certainly seems like one." Andrei replied with a confused glance. "You scared of them or something?"

"No, man. Janitors work here. They might have a keycard."

Ulrich looked at the empty yellow bucket by the cart, and inside was a small plastic card. It has the word 'Clandest' written on it. Ulrich opened up his watch and texted Silvia.

'Found a keycard. Give us 2 minutes.'

"Oh, you guys found it." Silvia said calmly once they came down the stairs, looking at the door instead of acknowledging their existence.

"Yep." Ulrich confirmed. "So if they're hiding the card, the jewel is pretty much guaranteed to be down there, right?"

"Guess so." Silvia replied with a smile. "Now then, moment of truth! Put it in!"

Ulrich did as she asked, swiping the card into the slot next to it. A rumbling noise was heard behind the door, and the doors opened.

"No way!" Silvia yelled. "So we win! Hey Andrei, check if anyone's coming in."

Andrei walked a few meters away to inspect if anyone was nearby, while Ulrich and Seeta got inside the elevator.

And once they did, the doors started closing.

Seeta tried reaching out to Silvia, only for the doors to slam closed, and the descent to begin.

"W-what just happened?" Andrei asked.

"I don't know! The door just closed!"

"Wait, are we gonna get strangled?"

A few seconds passed, and both of them were still able to breath.

"No. No no no no no." Silvia yelled, banging on the door. "Come on, don't do this to me, dammit!"

In the elevator to the basement, Ulrich felt something close in on his neck. It felt like an invisible force was choking him, and he was losing the ability to breath. And judging by Seeta's face, so was she.

"Wow. Tough situation." Leonie's ever-so-smug voice rang out over their watches. "Remember, a death means the end of a challenge!"

"I'm…sorry, Ulrich." Seeta managed to choke out, before summoning her axe, looking at Ulrich, and lunging at him. A weak flame spat out of Ulrich's palm, which he threw into Seeta's face. Seeta fell down, her axe just barely missing Ulrich's face.

With Seeta against the wall, trying to get her legs to work, Ulrich did what he felt the need to with his vision getting murky. He put a weak flame in each hand and put his hands to Seeta's neck.

She started spluttering, kicking him in the shins, but every kick was getting weaker. Her hands were swiping at his face, but not enough to do anything to him. After a minute that felt like a gruelling eternity, her hand went limp. She stopped kicking.

And Ulrich could breathe again.

The elevator doors let out a loose 'ding!' noise, and Ulrich stepped out. Within the basement was grey floors and walls, a few cleaning supplies, a dingy light, and on the floor…was the jewel.

Ulrich went over to it. It looked like a normal crimson jewel, and considering everything it took to find it, it wouldn't be a booby trap, right? He went over to it and picked it up. Once he did, he felt a searing pain crawl it's way into his body, and he dropped the jewel. He looked at his hand, and it was covered in blood. He rolled down his sleeve, and blood was pouring it's way out of his arm. There was a small set of bandages next to him, which he wrapped around his arm. He wasn't gushing blood anymore, which was good. And then his watch buzzed.

Shit. What if it's Silvia? How would he even respond to something like that? He opened the mail app, and the message was from…Kalea.

'So you ended up here. Your time with NeoBunny is almost over. Check the bottom of the second-last cabinet, there's something for you.'

Almost over? What does that mean? But at the opposite end of the room was a cabinet. He flung the second last drawer open, hoping it wasn't rigged to explode. It wasn't, and Ulrich was free to dig inside the old documents, most of them signed by either a 'Leonard Clifton' or a 'Jules Anchor', along with some assorted names. But at the bottom of the file was what looked to be a portable DVD player. He checked the disc drive, and a disc with the words 'For Ulrich' written on it came out. He turned the player on, and the NeoBunny logo came on screen, followed by a voice. One calm and smooth.

"Well, Ulrich. It appears you got my message. Unless you somehow aren't Ulrich. In which case, I ask that you turn this off, or the consequences will be severe. Now then, Ulrich. It appears you knew what to do to win this challenge, and I offer my congratulations. Now, allow me to cut to the meat of this conversation. Your friend Zeb has come to bring you to your home dimension, and I will oblige. So tonight, an incident will be cooked up to fake your death, and you can return home to your own time. Congratulations on making it this far, and I hope to see you in three years' time. Oh, and don't tell anyone about this. I care about divine law, but not that much."

The message stopped, and Ulrich saw his face on a black screen.

He was…done? Zeb was here, and she got him out? This was…amazing. He hobbled back into the elevator, trying to ignore Seeta's corpse as he ascended.

The doors gave their unchanging 'Ding!' as they opened, where Silvia and Andrei were waiting. Silvia took a step back when she saw Seeta's body, looking into Ulrich's shifting gaze, turning to him when he walked past.

"U-Ulrich? You didn't…do this…did you?"

Ulrich didn't say anything back. He didn't need to. He was finished. As far as he was concerned, the rest were dead, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hey, Ulrich? Was the gem down there?" Andrei asked, walking next to him.

"Didn't see it." Ulrich lied, still looking shocked at everything that happened. He struggled to keep walking through his shaking legs, and he started feeling nauseous.

"Wait, really?" Andrei asked. "After all that?"

"Okay, everybody!" Leonie's voice rang out over the watches. "The jewel goes to…nobody! However, we did get someone killed in the hunt for it! Yes, Miss Seeta Tamboli forgot how to breathe! I don't know how you forget exactly, but she did!"

Andrei left the halls, trying to get more information out of Ulrich, while Silvia fell to her knees, looking at Seeta's body. She tried to cry over this, but as hard as she tried, not a single tear left her face.

"I'm sorry, Seeta. It...sucks it had to be like this." She turned around, and followed Andrei out of the building. "I'll try to help your folks, so...try to forgive me, okay?"