It's quieter than you'd been expecting.

You'd figured that they'd be swarming you the moment that you got in, through the air ducts.

But... nothing. Nothing scary, or dangerous.

You start to wonder why your boss had told you to come so heavily armed.

Maybe you just hadn't been caught yet, or something?

Either way, orders are orders. Too many agents have already gone MIA in this place for you to let your guard down.

As a few days of trying to navigate this industrial labyrinth went by in quiet solitude, you still believe that your guard is up.

But it isn't. It hadn't been, for a while.

If your guard was up, you would've noticed the slight change in scent when going down certain hallways. The whispers, the softly glowing, flashing walls.

If your guard was up, you would've been quicker to remove those little darts after each tiny little sting.

If your guard was up, you would've realized that you weren't even trying to not go in circles anymore.

If your guard was up, you would've stopped muttering 'Good Dolls Obey DST' under your breath much sooner than you did.

You would've been trying harder not to love this place.

Eventually, however many days in it was---like you were even bothering to keep track anymore---you hear a noise, off toward a hallway that you've never noticed before.

Desperate for contact, for any sign of life, you follow the source.

A panel in the floor lowers to your step, and before your eyes you see a black fountain.

Well, not black. Not really. Really, it was every other color except black, combined, so dense that it just seemed black, at a glance.

You give it more than a glance. You stare, captivated.

You're so enamored that you barely notice when a figure steps out, through the falling liquid.

It's the agent that you were ordered to find. The one who had gone missing, whose reports had mysteriously dried up.

They're shiny.

They hold out their hand, beckoning. They tilt their head, wordlessly, before stepping back through the fountain.

The last thing to pass through is their hand, held out in soft invitation.

You barely hesitate, before stepping forward through the not-black curtain.

The liquid pours over you, around you, coats you, fills you. It feels strange, but only for a moment; not thin like water, not thick like honey. It flows freely, but still seems to stick to you. Adhere to you. Seep into you. Become part of you.

Or are you becoming part of it?

An infinite instant later, you're on the other side.

You see everyone.

They're shiny.

Their faces turn to you in acknowledgement, and welcome.

You're happy to join them.

You take out your phone. Somehow, it survived the trip through the mysterious liquid. The liquid that was now an indelible part of your body -- that WAS your body.

You call for backup.

You destroy the phone.

You step forward.

You're surrounded by bodies, shiny and smooth.

You smile.

You feel welcomed to Dream Self Technologies.

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(Written by @RubberMaya, with an additional pass by @RubberTracer.)