Chapter 3: Welcome to Nano Tech Industry

Osra yawned as he opened his eyes. He rose steadily from the extra living room bed and smiled as he noticed Jack slumped over his hands in the same chair he had set up before. He tapped on his shoulder, and he instantly rose up. The tall blond man swept the hair out of his eyes and smirked as he focused on him.

"You're up," Jack groaned as he stretched out, "how you feelin'?"

Osra laughed a little as he replied, "better... so this-all of this, it's all real."

He nodded as he rubbed his eyes, "yep... Though don't get too comfortable, things aren't as they seem here."

"What do you mean?" Osra leaned in as Jack motioned him to come closer.

"Keep your voice down. We're all planning a break out soon. Steven, Amy and Alan, they've been here for years, and they're the only SAO survivors here. They're experimenting on us. Why? That's what we're trying to figure out. Each night, we take turns sneaking out if rooms through hidden vents, and the shit they do is crazy."

"Herzog was telling me, but experi-"

"I said lower your damn voice!" Jack hushed him quickly. He looked down and shook his head with a somber expression, "we lost Taylor a long time ago. I was one of the first people to wake up, and Taylor was here as well. Why I was one of the first, I don't know but I'm here. Taylor was "taken in" and never came back out of the labs again. She's probably dead."

Osra sighed and nodded silently. He stood back up from the bed and pointed to the cafeteria, "are we allowed to-"

"Yeah, let's go, everyone should be in there," he smiled as he stood up. As Osra began walking, Jack stopped him by grabbing his wrist, "hey. Do not tell the others, okay?"

"Of course."

The two walked through a pair of swinging doors into the cafeteria. Osra stood with awe as he saw how big it was and how many people were in it. There were multiple lunch tables loitered around the room, and a huge kitchen along one wall. The food was served buffet style, and anyone was free to grab whatever they wanted. Osra felt his stomach speak to him as he looked down. But instead of moving, he simply stood there, abstracted.

"You good, man?" Jack asked, a few steps in front of him. Osra looked up quickly and nodded. "Alright, well everyone's sitting over there. Grab what you want, but uhh, stay weary. I'm sure the food is fine, but I just have my suspicions." He pointed to a table in the far right corner and waved as Osra left to grab a tray at the food area.

"Is that all you're going to eat?" Tim asked as Osra arrived at their table. "I thought you always ate more than that."

"Hmm? I'm just not that hungry, so..." Osra looked down at the lonesome apple on his tray. He sat besides Silver and Jade, putting down the green tray before picking up the red fruit.

Adam laughed, "huh. Thought you'd be hungry after waking up."

"Continuing on," Alan spoke with a hush. His voice was very nasally, instantly pissing Osra off. "We need to find the elevator."

"Elevator?" Osra whispered with his mouth full and drooling.

Alan rolled his dark brown eyes and slammed on the table, "yes. How else do you think we're going to reach the surface?"

Osra put his hands up and widened his eyes, "whoops, sorry my guy. Jeez, calm down. You got sticks up your ass or what?"

Alan inhaled deeply as he stared down at the table, "screw it... We're done today. Clear it, we've been here too long anyway."

Ricky crossed his arms as he spoke, "Alan, what's wro-"

"He's what's wrong, he's just an idiot! Ban him from the group," Alan grunted as he stood with his arms crossed as well.

"Ban?!" almost everyone said in unison.

"Yes, as in kick him out, he won't be helping us at all. I know it," he spoke quickly and shook his head.

"Well what are you guys waiting for?" Amy asked besides him, "hurry and get him out of here!"

Jordan tried to reason with them, "Alan, Amy, he just got here, give him some-"

"He's a waste of time," Alan retorted quickly, "get him out, or I'm reporting him to a guard."

"For what?" Gary fought back as well. Before Alan or Amy could speak again, Gary quickly continued, "Josh literally just got here, he hasn't done anything yet. I think I'm going to report you for being such a prick. You act like a leader nobody wanted, why don't you leave, stupid cuck."

Alan's eyes scanned the room frantically before he slammed both hands on the table and screamed, "shut up!" Everyone around the room stared in silence. Alan quickly looked up to find that he had captured the attention of every soul in the room and glared as guards approached them.

"Everything okay over here?" the first of the two guards asked. Osra took quick notice of the large gun he held in his hand. It had wires everywhere, along with tubes running a blue liquid inside and out of it.

"We're fine, sir," Alan took a deep breath and looked at the guard's mask. "Everything's fine. That man is the one causing problems. The new awakened one, Os-" he was briefly interrupted by Gary's fist traveling through his mouth.

The guards quickly raised their guns and fired needles filled with the blue liquid into Gary's body. He twitched as electricity ran through out his body before falling over to the ground.

The guard pointed as him and shouted, "take him in! He's done." Multiple more men quickly rushed in to struggle as they picked Gary off the floor. As they carried him out of the room, Osra stared at the others who all looked away with wide eyes. He quickly glanced at Alan, who was feeling his jaw as Amy helped him cope with the pain.

After a quick minute, Gary was gone, and never to be seen again. Osra felt a shiver run through his spine as he made his way back to Havens, "where's he going?"

"We don't know," Havens said softly and slowly. "When they say that, people leave and then they don't come back. It's just... I never thought it'd happen to one of us... We all seemed to be thriving..."

"Gary Long's done for," Herzog spoke quickly after.

"Good," Alan stated behind everyone. "That big oaf couldn't even fit in the vents, he was bound to get us caught anyway... As I said, we're done for today."

Silver glared directly at him as he softly raised his voice, "that "big oaf" knew his way around the technology we couldn't crack! Now all we have is Ricky, but even he barely knows what he's doing!"

"The tech should be no problem, Jack should help with that too," Alan grunted as he continued to move his jaw around with his hands. "Don't forget, you have me as well."

"What about Osra?" Jade asked him as they turned away.

Alan stopped and turned around, but Amy spoke instead, "Alan said he's banned. We're done for today, so scra-"

"He can stay," Alan sighed. He jerked his arm away from Amy and marched straight into Osra's face, "but I swear. I do not like you, Osra. If we get caught, the first person we know who'll snitch is you." The two glared into each other's eyes as a minute of silent tension filled the air. Alan sharply turned back around and roughly snatched Amy's hand as they left.

"Fucking cuck," Osra muttered as he watched them leave.

Silver put his arm around him and nodded, "I know, we don't like him either, but he knows what he's doing, trust me."

"I sure hope so..." Osra shook his head as he spoke, "I really do hate that guy with a passion, he just got Gary... Damn, Gary's gone..."

Jack quickly put his hand on his shoulder and assured him quietly, "we'll find him. Don't worry about it, things will be fine, and we'll find him and Taylor soon."

"Let's all sit back down," Jade suggested, "or maybe head to the main room and sit around the couch. I don't know, I kinda want to catch up with Josh, ya know?"

"I think we all want to know what happened after we "died"... Josh?" Havens yawned as he watched Osra stared into the space where Gary lied. "Josh, you good, man?"

He snapped his head up and nodded, "yeah, sorry... Yeah, let's do that, catching up." He blushed and smiled as he looked away again, "I want to talk about Melody..."

"That was the blond asian chick, right?" Tim tilted his head as he asked, "she was lokey pretty hot."

Osra laughed out loud and shook his head, still blushing, "don't get me started, she's amazing..."

The large group shuffled back into the room where Osra had his small nap. They each gathered in a large area with a long coffee table in the middle of a living space. A large white couch sat behind it as smaller armchairs surrounded the remaining space.

"So," Adam smirked as he sat down, "you get together with that blond chick?"

Silver and Jade's eyes widened as they smiled brightly. They spoke in unison the moment they both perked themselves up, "Melody?!"

Osra blushed and looked away as Jack and the rest turned to them. "You know her?!" Jack shouted.

Jade laughed, "we were in the same guild... I'm a Heart too, remember? Steven's guild was just very close to ours. Of course we know who she is."

"Josh," Silver gripped Osra's shoulders tightly as he directly into his eyes, "you and Melody are a thing now?"

Osra chuckled, redder than a tomato, "...yeah." Everyone around them bursted with laughter and hollers.

"That's my boy!" Adam repeated over and over as he patted his back. "That's my boy! That's my boy!"

"W-well, no, actually. I don't know! That part is kinda fuzzy, I remember some things, but others are straight up a blur," he frowned. "To be honest, I don't really know, and I doubt it. If I remember anything, she was still mad at me for losing her sister. She probably hates my fucking guts to be honest..."

Havens put his hand up to calm everyone down as he looked to Osra with concern, "so why are you down here?"

Osra quickly explained what had happened that led to him waking up in the new room he couldn't remember so well. He scratched his head as he shook it, "and now I honestly have no clue what's going on... One minute you're chasing Baku, Chumbus gets everyone out, next thing you know, you wake up in a completely brand new place." He groaned, "it hurts to think... It's weird, but for one thing is certain, and that my goal to see everyone else right now is my top priority. Fuck, my head..."

"They probably think you're dead, dude," Jordan sighed, "just like the rest of us..."

"What's the difference?" Silver grunted, "we're all dead now until we actually reach the surface. No-one knows we're here, and you can bite my ass if I'm wrong, but this certainly is not a government run industry."

Everyone stopped to take in a moment of silence. Adam stood up from his seat and moved towards Osra. He reached down into his pants and pulled out a screwdriver. "Use this, and get a good look of what's goin' on. I'll tell you, shit's really goin' down and you ain't gonna like it."

Osra took it and nodded, "do they not have cameras in or rooms?" He stuck the screwdriver in between his waist and the waistband of his pants.

"Alan and Gary took bits and pieces of their tech, disabling cameras used in our rooms. They just loop the same footage until we get back, but uhh..." Tim looked down again, "Gary isn't with us anymore, and I don't think there is anything we can do about it..."

"I'll talk to Alan," Silver smiled as he shook his hand. "We have two screwdrivers, so one of us could-"

"I'll go with him," Ricky stood up and put his arm over Osra's shoulder. "I didn't really get to catch up with him in the game, the Steedly little dude managed to get a cheap shot off me and Hay- No. I'm sorry, but just know I'll be going with you tonight."

"Are you sure, Ricky?" Herzog lowered his voice, "you went last night with Adam, and you guys almost got caught."

"That wasn't my fault," he retorted, "Adam got a little too greedy with the weapons... We spent too much time there than we should've."

Adam quickly put his hands up, "hey man, the sooner we can fight back, the sooner we'll be back up there."

"Wait, wait, wait," Osra tilted his head as he leaned into the group's circle, "you guys have a weapon stash?"

Tim grinned and wiped the drool from his mouth, "it's a hella big stack, bro. I'm talking the sexy future ass shit and more. We hide it all in a room no-one but Downing has access to, the emergency bomb shelter room. Only his master key unlocks it, but there's hella supplies in there. I'm talking food, water, and the best thing for us... weapons. We've been hiding the weapons behind the huge pile of crates there for months, so it's great you're just waking up. We're about to bust a nut straight out to the world, talk about rebirth."

"You guys have a map of it all?"

"That's why I want to go with you too," Ricky clasped his hands as he stared at the ground, "I've been going the most, here. I know this place inside and out."

"Plus he's Ricky," Havens nodded, "the only dude here faster than me."

"Remember when you used to call me Rucky?" Ricky laughed out loud, "that's what everyone still calls me."

"Dude's not human!" Jack laughed out loud. The mood around the circle lightened up once again.

Silver patted Osra on the back and nodded, "we also have a map, but only one. We normally pass it around, but only to those who need it. Alan has it right now."

"And I bet Alan still has his virginity too?" Osra joked around, "I swear man, that guy is just... Beats me, I bet the reason he acts so stuck up is because of all the sticks planted far up his ass."

"None of us really like him either," Jade whispered to him.

Silver put up his hand, "but I vouch for him. We wouldn't be able to do much without him, and plus, with him comes Amy. She might be a little on the... thicker side, but she's one hell of a talker, and I'm talking about how she "talks" us out of a lot of situations. We need both of them."

Osra inhaled deeply before nodding, "so this shit is real."

"As real as you can get it to be," Silver hugged him tightly, "you don't know how happy I am to see you here. I feel so much safer with you here. I'm sorry, but... Gerry and Ryel aren't here either. Steph told me of how they perished, and we spent about half a year searching for them."

"Anthony isn't here either," Jade shook her head as well.

Adam chimed in as well, "neither is Melody's sister, Technis II."

"Bethany changed her handle?" Silver asked him.

Osra replied instead, "yeah, she used to be Flo, and you knew that. After the original Technis died, she took over his mantle. She died when almost everyone here died."

"Oh yeah," Adam recollected his memories, "that damn Steedly and dude, Brett. If only Thomas and I had our Legendaries and Jack had his Rival Armor... Man! If I had Ayonigista at that time, I'd spread his cheeks on the spot!"

Everyone's laughter stopped as they heard a loud bell ring over them. Jack put his arm over Osra as he smiled, "c'mon, that's the curfew bell. Let's get to sleep, yeah?"

"There's a clock next to your bed, we'll leave around midnight, alright?" Ricky walked next to him as everyone wandered towards the hallway back to their rooms.

Silver patted his back again as he waved goodbye, "I'm going to talk to Alan right now, stay safe tonight."

Osra nodded and smiled back. As they all walked away he stuck his hands behind his head and deeply exhaled. The hell is going on... Is this some termina or some shit, twelve o'clock, though. Got it...

"Osra!"

He quickly turned around and stopped as the river of people moved around him. Melody?! He looked around the room to see no-one else. He grunted and kicked the ground. I must be hearing some shit... I don't like it here... He turned back around and continued back to his room.