Fanny was surprised when MePhone4 made a sound that wasn't him complaining.

She had her eyes closed at the time. With nothing better to do, 95% of her time inside the cell with the two other mechanical minds was spent either sleeping, or sitting with her eyes closed. But when she heard an odd sound, she cracked open one eyelid.

MePhone was acting strangely. Facing away from her, he was twitching gently, but constantly, and he occasionally emitted a sound that... Fanny wasn't sure how to describe it. The best word was probably 'glitchy,' or 'broken.' She couldn't even tell if it was coming from his mouth or not.

"Are you alright, MePhone?" another robotic voice spoke. TV had evidently seen the host's odd behavior as well. "You're producing some strange sounds."

The phone didn't answer. Somewhat reluctantly, Fanny stood up and walked around him until she got a view of his face. That only raised more questions; while she could see the rough features of his eyes and mouth, they were glitching, too — bits and pieces kept sliding out in blocks before immediately snapping back into a different place, and the colors of his eyes kept rapidly changing between red and black.

Wordlessly, Fanny turned him around so that TV could take a look. "Hmmm," came the answer. "How odd... here, perhaps I can access his inner workings and-"

At the mention of being tampered with, MePhone suddenly hissed, the sound coming out with a very low quality that made it thronged with static. Fanny stepped away, startled, but the hiss petered out into nothingness, and MePhone returned to his previous condition.

The other two objects locked gazes. "What do we do?" Fanny wondered. "I mean, I hate the guy, but he clearly needs fixing."

"If he won't let us fix him, then there is nothing we can do," replied TV.

Glaring at the cell door, Fanny remembered he was right. As long as they were trapped inside the MeCloud, their situation wouldn't change. Nothing would change unless the cell door suddenly magically opened.

To their shock, the cell door suddenly magically opened.

--------------------

"Hey mistah Cobs, ah'm done with-" Toilet stopped abruptly after seeing that the Meeple CEO was not in his office, despite the corn man previously telling him that he should be in there all day. "...oh."

He was about to turn around and head out to go look for him, but a thought entered Toilet's mind. This would be a good time to see if he's hiding anything.

That stopped him in his tracks. A dilemma presented itself. Should he take a look on Cobs' laptop and see if he could discover anything, with the risk of getting caught, on the basis that MePhone didn't seem to trust Cobs? Or should he continue to be obedient and help out Cobs for now?

...if MePhone doesn't trust the corn man, then neither do I, he firmly decided.

Now determined, Toilet continued into the large office. His hopping caused a hollow clacking to echo slightly, the noise filling the otherwise silent space. Reaching the laptop, he was relieved to find that it was open and unlocked. His plans for snooping likely would have ended right there and then had the device been locked.

He shrunk the search engine that was open and scanned the desktop for anything that might provide useful information. "Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Cameras! Perhaps ah can catch mistah Cobs in 4k!"

Almost excitedly, he clicked on the program (don't ask me how, even I don't know how he did that without limbs) and brought up a menu of folders filled with security footage. He scanned the labels — most of them didn't seem particularly interesting or damning, but one name caught his eye.

'Cell cameras.'

...cell? As in... prison cell? Toilet pondered internally. Oh... is that what those rooms with the blacked-out windows were?

Enthusiasm now gone, he hesitantly opened the folder. Inside were six more folders, labeled 'Cell 01 footage,' 'Cell 02 footage,' etc. He chose one at random and selected the most recent .mp4 file inside.

Toilet gasped audibly, instantly recognizing the inhabitants. "But... that's Suitcase! And... Clock? What are they doing heah?"

He opened up the folder for another cell and saw that the files in there also contained footage of contestants from BFB and II2 trapped within the cells. Quickly, he went through the others, but the last one hit him hard. This room had a trio inside, rather than a duo. And one of them...

"M... mistah Phone?" whispered Toilet, almost in disbelief.

But the disbelief rapidly transformed into anger, and then determination. Frantically, Toilet shrunk the video folders and began searching the laptop for a control panel. It didn't take long for him to come across one for the cell doors. He clicked on 'open all,' and a dialogue box popped up, asking Are you sure you want to open all these doors?

Without hesitation, he clicked Yes.

--------------------

In the small hallway adjacent to the very room Toilet sat in, six entryways opened up simultaneously, surprising the 13 beings within. None of them were expecting it to happen, and all of them were instantly on guard. Was it a trick? A trap?

But nothing happened. Finally, Pin was the first to (hesitantly) step foot outside her cell. She carefully looked along the entire hallway, but there wasn't a single kernel of corn to be seen. "Nobody's here... who let us out?"

"DOES IT MATTER?" spoke Yellow Face, who followed her out. "SOMEONE LET US OUT! HEY GUYS, WE'RE IN THE ALL CLEAR!"

Hearing this, the others began to exit their prisons as well. Leafy was the next one to step out, and when Pin spotted her, she cried out, "Leafy!"

"Pin!" Leafy cried back.

"Leafy!" Clock shouted.

"Balloon!" Suitcase called.

"Suitcase!" Baseball exclaimed.

"Everyone!" Marker cheered.

"Slowpokes!" Fanny jeered. She was already opening the door at the end of the corridor. "Let's get out of here already! We can save sappy reunions for later!"

Bubble rolled her eyes at this, but still smiled despite herself — Fanny's familiar callouts were a relief to hear after being trapped with only one other object for the last couple of days. "Fanny's right. We should leave!"

"One problem," TV spoke up, poking out of his cell. "MePhone is behaving oddly and refusing to follow me. I believe I need assistance."

Balloon and Balloony rushed over to help the flatscreen. Balloon reached MePhone first and reached out to grab his arm, but the phone suddenly lunched forwards and popped him before he even had a chance to blink. "Balloon!!" Suitcase shrieked.

MePhone leapt at Balloony next, but the green airhead managed to stumble out of range. Everybody else took a step back from the device while it turned towards them. While still glitching, it was easier to pick out individual features on his face. His eyes in particular stayed mostly white, but occasionally flickered between various shades of crimson. A heavy breathing came from him, the sound coming out tinny and ragged.

Carefully, Baseball shuffled towards him. "MePhone...?"

"HEY!!"

All 12 objects jumped at the new voice and looked at the end of the hallway to see what appeared to be a MePod standing in the doorway. "What are you all doing out of your cells?" it yelled at them, half angry, half confused. But before anyone had a chance to actually respond, it tapped its face and brought up an app. "The prisoners have escaped!" it shouted to nobody in particular, before pressing the Intruder Alert button on its screen.

Alarms began to blare.

--------------------

"Hey, be a little gentler on the screws there, buddy!" complained Mecintosh. "My casing may be old, but I can still feel things!"

Rolling his eyes, Cobs removed another screw from Mecintosh's plastic case. The two were in Meeple Care; Mecintosh because that's where he currently resided, and Cobs because Mecintosh needed his monthly check-up. MePhoneX loyally stood guard by the door, prepared for anything. "Relax, you'll be fine," the corn man told the old desktop. "The pain is simulated, anyways. It's not real."

"You're not the one feeling it, buddy."

"Stop calling me buddy."

"Alright, pal."

Cobs grunted in exasperation. "You're insufferable."

"And you're the one who gave me my personality matrix. You know, the one you modeled after your own?"

"The code must have clearly gotten corrupted, though. After all, I'm impeccable."

"Nice ego you got there. Did your mother make it for you?"

Cobs removed his screwdriver from the casing. "You know, I could always just wait until next month to give you your checkup."

Mecintosh said nothing. "That's what I thought," Cobs chuckled smugly before returning to work.

But the blissful silence wouldn't last. Less than ten seconds after the conversation came to a halt, an alarm started to bellow from hidden loudspeakers. Cobs groaned. "Oh, what now?"

The room's door slid open without warning, causing MePhoneX to assume some sort of battle pose, but it was only a MePod. "Sir!" it cried. "MePhone4 and the other objects have escaped!"

"How?" he demanded.

"We don't know yet. But most of us are already converging on their location."

"Don't let them escape." Cobs turned to MePhoneX. "I want you to go after them as well. When they've been subdued, bring me MePhone4, but prioritize getting them all dealt with first."

MPX saluted and loyally followed the MePod out.

--------------------

"GO, GO, GO!!" Pin ordered, having to shout over the cacophony of the alerts. She charged forwards; the MePod, not expecting this, attempted to step back but tripped on Fanny's outstretched leg and landed hard on the ground. Pin just stepped over it and helped Fanny hold the door open. "Let's move, people!"

"But what about MePhone?" TV protested.

"I think we have to leave him!" responded Clock. "We can't do anything if he's just going to fight us!"

"Well, I'm not leaving him behind. Mechanical minds must stick togethACK!"

That last exclamation of surprise was due to MePhone punching TV square in the face. The flatscreen fell backwards and MePhone stepped over his body, continuing down the opposite direction of the corridor and exiting through the door there. "TV!" Marker cried. "Are you alright??"

There was a tense moment where TV didn't move, but he managed to sit up. His screen was majorly damaged in the center, cracks spreading outwards towards the edges. Although still mostly visible, his face was now partially obscured by small, glitchy patches. "I'm fine," he said. "I can't feel pain; I'm more bothered by my slightly blocked vision."

"I'm glad you survived, but we need to LEAVE!" Desperation was beginning to creep into Pin's voice.

TV understood. With the help of Leafy and Bubble, he got to his feet and unsteadily exited the hallway. Fanny, Balloony, and Yellow Face followed right after, but Baseball, Clock, and Marker paused. "Suitcase, come on!" Baseball urged.

The poor girl, who had still been staring at Balloon's remains, tried to shake her head. "Sorry... that was all just so sudden. I-"

Slam! The doorway at the opposite end of the corridor flew open, and MePods began to flood inside. "Time to go!" Clock yelled. Marker snatched Suitcase — who was still sluggish — and sprinted away with Baseball and Clock on his heels. The moment the four of them were out of the hallway, Pin slammed the door shut.

"There they are!" another voice shouted.

Pin turned to see a second group of MePods storming towards them from across the room. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she muttered before fleeing after the others.

The hallway they were in now was the one that showcased various older generations of Meeple devices along one wall, with the adjacent wall being made from glass. While there were - unfortunately - still some MePods ahead, it was significantly less than the mob following them. Leafy, TV, and Balloony slowed down to let Fanny, Bubble, and Yellow Face take the lead. Fanny and YF charged at two of the devices and managed to bowl them over, while Bubble punched another in the face, sending it flying. "Oi've never loiked fighting, but oi don't think we really have much of a choice roight now," she lamented.

Baseball joined the fray as well. During the very brief pause in running as the front line cleared their path, Suitcase wriggled out of Marker's grip. "Thanks for carrying me," she said gratefully, "but I can run on my own now. I just... wasn't expecting MePhone to do... that."

Just as the hallway was cleared of MePods, Pin caught up to the group. "Keep moving!" she ordered. "There's a LOT of them right behind me!"

She rushed past the others and took the lead with Fanny and Baseball. Balloony and Clock took Leafy's spot in helping TV keep going, while Bubble, Leafy, Marker, and Suitcase stuck close behind, passing by Yellow Face in the process. "THESE MEPODS ARE VERY WELL DESIGNED!" he commented as he studied the unconscious form of one. "I WONDER HOW COBS MANAGED TO-"

"Yellow Face!!" Marker and Suitcase yelled at him.

The marketer glanced backwards, saw the hoard of mechanical minds heading his way, and decided that he should keep moving. But as YF hopped forwards, the MePod he was inspecting - who he previously believed was unconscious - reached up and tripped him. The yellow object face-planted onto the ground. "Ow..."

On the verge of making it out of the gallery, Marker and Suitcase skidded to a halt and immediately sprinted towards their fallen friend. They grabbed Yellow Face and hauled him up, but not fast enough. The MePods caught up to them faster than they expected, and they were lost in the stampede.

--------------------

An out-of-place noise caused Cobs to pause. "What is it?" Mecintosh asked, noticing the lack of movement.

Cobs strained his ears for a moment, before shaking his head. "It was nothing. I just thought I heard-"

Suddenly, there it was again. The sounds of... fighting? He stood up and walked to the door, which automatically slid open, revealing a long corridor. Yes, there was definitely some fighting nearby, growing closer. And along with that, he also heard...

"Oh no." A ball of dread formed in his stomach. He would recognize the voice coming closer anywhere. "Not him..."

Something suddenly flew into the hallway far ahead of him. Cobs had just enough time to recognize it as MePhoneX before MePhone4 charged at the other device. MPX dodged in time to avoid getting clobbered and grabbed MP4's ankle, yanking it out from under him. MP4 fell onto him and the fight devolved into a flurry of limbs.

A third figure emerged. "Yeah, get him, sir!" encouraged Toilet enthusiastically. Cobs got an instant migraine the moment he saw the porcelain pest, but tried to ignore it, even though it meant interacting with the accursed creature. "What in the world is going on here?" he demanded.

"Yeah, what is going on? I can't see anything from over here!" whined Mecintosh, who was facing away from the door.

Toilet heard Cobs' voice, saw him, and gasped. "You!" he shouted. "I knew ah was right to not truhst yeh! What makes yeh think you can just lock mistah Phone up like that, huh? Huh??"

Suddenly, everything made sense. Cobs remembered leaving his laptop unlocked when he went to perform Mecintosh's checkup. Toilet must have snooped around his files and discovered MePhone4 and the other imprisoned objects and set them free.

The Meeple CEO sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I don't expect you to understand this, but MePhone4 is my property, and I will do with him what I want."

Toilet gaped at him. "Propahty?? Mistah Phone is a LIVING, BREATHING, OBJECT!! How DARE you!!"

"Technically, he doesn't actually breath, but-"

He froze and stared down the hallway. Confused at the abrupt cutoff, Toilet turned to see that MePhone4 had successfully managed to deactivate MePhoneX using the latter's power button. "Oh, greaht job, mistah Phone!" Toilet cheered. "Let's get that stinky corn man next!"

Cobs was going to make a comment about corn not being stinky in the slightest, but his snarky attitude dried up when he saw MePhone4 advancing down the corridor towards him. He suddenly realized that, with all of his intelligence, he likely wouldn't be able to beat the phone in a fight, especially if MPX couldn't. Quickly, he backed up into Meeple Care and tapped a code on the inner keypad. The door slid shut and a red light lit up over the pad, indicating that it was locked tight. Cobs breathed a small sigh of relief and felt not a little gratification from hearing Toilet complain from the other side.

Knowing now that he was safe - and that the MePods would eventually overcome MePhone with their sheer numbers - Cobs turned back towards Mecintosh, picked up his tools, and began tweaking the desktop again. "What was that all about?" questioned Mecintosh.

"Nothing you need to worry about."

--------------------

The remaining objects turned a corner into the lobby. The exit to the MeCloud was guarded by ten more MePods, who went on guard the instant they spotted the group. "Sorry about this, Baseball!" Pin apologized before shoving him hard.

Thrown off-balance but still having a great deal of forward momentum, Baseball toppled forwards and began to roll towards the guards. Their eyes widened and they tried to move out of the way, but the sports globule bowled them over and smashed straight through the doors, leaving the exit wide open. TV played a Strike! sound effect.

Balloony glanced behind him and saw only Bubble and Leafy following a distance away. "Wait! Where's-"

"The MePods got them," Bubble gasped, out of breath but still moving. Balloony felt a pang of sadness, but knowing they could be recovered later, he didn't dwell for too long.

Baseball continued to roll, down the slightly sloped pathway leading away from the building until he fell neatly into the Grand Slams' hot air balloon basket. Amazingly, the vehicle was still docked at the edge of the cloud. Upon seeing Baseball enter the basket, TV played another sound effect (much to Pin's chagrin), this one being Hole in one!

"Wrong sport, TV!" scolded Clock. If TV had arms, he would have shrugged.

By the time they reached the balloon, Pin and Fanny had climbed into the basket and were frantically untying the rope that kept it anchored. Balloony was the next to follow TV and Clock in. "Got it!" cried Pin, yanking the remaining end towards her.

Leafy jumped in and immediately pushed on the cloud's edge, forcing the balloon to slowly start drifting away. "What are you doing?" Fanny yelled. "Bubble's still over there!!"

"What?" Leafy looked up, her eyes widening when she saw Bubble only halfway across the bridge. The hoard of devices wasn't far behind her. "I thought she was right behind me!"

"She appears out of breath," noted TV. "Perhaps she's not used to the weight of her yoylemetal body?"

"BUBBLE! YOU'LL HAVE TO JUMP!" Clock called out.

The gap between cloud and balloon grew further apart. Bubble closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them, newfound determination shone through them. Inhaling deeply, the soapy sphere put on one last burst of speed and closed the distance in seconds. She lunged off the very edge of the pathway with the last ounce of her strength and soared through the air towards the hot air balloon, arms outstretched.

Leafy leaned out of the basket as far as she physically could and reached towards her friend. Bubble was only just close enough for them to successfully lock hands. "Yes!" the lemon leaf cheered.

But she miscalculated.

Bubble was still made out of yoylemetal. And in all the chaos, Leafy forgot just how heavy metal could be. So when gravity took hold, Leafy wasn't anticipating any resistance, which is why she inevitably got dragged out of the basket with a yelp.

"LEAFY!" Pin shrieked. The thumbtack leapt to grab the plant's legs but missed by a fraction. Distressed, she and the other passengers of the balloon leaned over the basket's edge to see Bubble and Leafy plummeting towards the forest below, screams growing quieter with every passing second.

Fanny shook her head, but said nothing. None of them spoke for a few minutes, their balloon continuing to drift roughly southeast.

Shrrrrrriiip.

The unexpected noise of canvas tearing jolted them back to reality. "What was that?" Baseball questioned, looking from side to side but not seeing anything unusual.

More ripping noises, from above. All six of them looked directly up just in time to witness a single MePod slide down the balloon's envelope, tearing a huge gash in the side as it did so. "How did THAT get up there??" exclaimed Clock.

"It must have climbed on top ahead of time, knowing that this would be our way off of the MeCloud," TV surmised.

The device let go and landed just inside the basket. Fanny head-butted it off the edge before it could react or save itself, but the damage was already done. Their ride began to rapidly descend, losing more and more hot air every second. Using his teeth, Baseball hurriedly untied the sandbags to try and shed some weight, but it didn't help. Within seconds they were practically free-falling towards the large building below.

Desperately, Pin wrapped one arm around Baseball (well, tried to) and the other around Fanny, since they were both armless. Balloony did the same with Clock and TV. "HOLD ON, EVERYBODY!" He had to shout at the top of his lungs just to be heard over the deafening wind. "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A ROUGH LANDING!"

"I HATE CRASHING!!" Fanny screeched, which was the last thing any of them heard before their hot air balloon smashed through the roof of Purgatory Mansion.

Toilet obediently hopped after MePhone4 as they reentered the massive space that was Cobs' office. He was overjoyed not only that he had been right to suspect Cobs, but also that MePhone was free again. He hoped the other contestants had made it out - after getting distracted by MePhone entering Cobs' office earlier from the side exit, he hadn't seen where they went.

Still, though, it wasn't all good. MePhone was... off. (Not in the literal sense.) Obviously, there was the subtly glitching face and slightly flickering eyes. Even Toilet wasn't clueless enough to miss that. But it was how he behaved, too; the mechanical mind wasn't acting like he normally did, and he hadn't spoken a word since Toilet freed him.

Something was wrong.

But Toilet didn't say anything about it just yet. Despite him being as loyal as one can be, MePhone often didn't listen to him when he was his normal self, so Toilet figured he'd probably have to find out some other way to figure out... whatever was going on.

They reached Cobs' desk. MePhone leaned over the laptop and began to search for a certain program. "Hey, uh, mistah Phone?" Toilet asked. Unsurprisingly, he was completely ignored. "Mistah Phone, mind if ah ask what you're doing?"

No response again. Toilet cleared his throat. "Mistah Phone... mistah Phone? Mi- ugh." he took a deep breath. "MISTAH PHONE!"

MePhone finally glanced up, annoyance clearly written on his face. "THANK you! Now, what are yah doing? We've escaped mist- er, we've escaped Cobs. Shouldn't we get out ahf here before those MePods come looking foah us?"

All he got this time was an eye roll before the device looked away again. "Alright, listen heah, mistah Phone!" Toilet scolded. "Something's wrong with yah! I wannah figure out what and help yah, but you're not lettin' me! Can ah at least see what you're doing?"

Silence.

"Well, that's technically not a 'no.'" Toilet scooched closer and leaned over to see the screen. "What is that... uh... 'Meeple Update?'" he read aloud. "What's that gonnah-"

A toilet in MePhone's face was the straw that broke the camel's back. He'd had enough. He roughly pushed Toilet away from the laptop, provoking a gasp. "Hey!" the potty protested, pushing back. MePhone shoved him again in response, harder this time. Toilet resisted, and suddenly they were in a pushing match. "Sir, please!" Toilet tried again. "If yeh would just tell me what you're doing-"

MePhone opened his mouth and r o a r e d. It was a guttural sound consisting only of rage and pure hatred, made worse by the hissing static and white noise intertwined within. Then, just as suddenly as it started, it switched off, and MePhone returned to the laptop, leaving Toilet frozen with shock.

The corrupted device finally got to the menu he was looking for. Carefully, he lifted his right pointer finger and let the hidden USB plug within slide out before plugging it into Cobs' computer. Another few key taps and the data was uploading itself as an update for all Meeple devices. All of them. MePhone made sure to check the box on the menu labelled Force Update When Uploaded.

"Alright."

Utterly unamused and starting to get really ticked off, MePhone turned when he heard the voice. Toilet stood there, shaking. "Something's corrupted yah. I don't know what is is. Ah don't think even you know what's wrong with you. And I'm far from ah hero. But!" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm going to do everything in mah power to help yah! Even if that means hahving to fight you first!"

Toilet charged. MePhone - or whatever was possessing him - calmly waited until the right moment, then stepped aside just before Toilet would have slammed into him. The porcelain object's built-up momentum continued to carry him forwards and right through the room's glass wall. Once outside, gravity took care of the rest.

There wasn't much that amused the entity controlling MePhone. But it had to smile at this, before turning back to the laptop to ensure the upload completed. It was getting close.

"OH, SO YEH THINK YOU'RE BETTAH THAN ME, AREN'T YOU??"

MePhone whirled around. He almost couldn't believe his eyes as Toilet soared through the air, smashing a new hole into the glass wall, and dropped down in front of the desk. "How DARE you throw me, you rubbish virus!!"There was sheer fury in his eyes. "Oh, you probableh think you're so clevah, whatevah you are, takin' control of mistah Phone and thinking yah can get away with anything! Well, guess what? YOU CAN'T!!"

Behind Toilet, MePods began to suddenly flood through the main entrance and into the room. MePhoneX was with them, too - they had evidently found him and turned him back on. But with his back to the door, he couldn't see them, and he was too absorbed in his anger to hear the footsteps. MePhone4 anxiously glanced at the progress bar for the upload - 96%, it read.

Completely oblivious to the danger behind, Toilet continued. "Betchyah didn't know ah could levitate, huh? Too bad for yah! And now that I'm back, I ain't gonnah let you trick me again! Ah'm DONE bein' the buffoon!"

Cobs' computer screen blinked. Upload complete, it now read. Initiating software update...

The swarm of MePods, inches away from the two objects at the desk, suddenly froze in place. "Mistah Phone," Toilet began to finish, "if you're in theah, I promise! Ah will get this thing outtah your mind and take it-"

BEEP. The sound of several dozen devices powering off at once startled Toilet half to death, causing him to whirl around in fright. "...down?" he weakly ended.

The update only lasted a moment, however. One by one, all the devices turned on again, briefly displaying the Meeple logo before their faces returned. Toilet was surprised to see that they all now resembled MePhone4's face - slightly glitchy and broken, with their eyes flickering back and forth between red and white. "Uh..." stuttered Toilet.

MePhone4 was no longer anxious. Each and every MePod in that room, in addition to MePhoneX, was now under his control. Not even that; every sentient Meeple device in the whole building. Hell - in the world.

But it wasn't quite a leader-controls-his-minions type of situation. No. MePhone4, MePhoneX, and the MePods were now one big hive mind. They were one. And right now, they were all extremely ticked off by the same object.

Toilet looked back and forth between MePhone4, who blocked him from escaping through the glass wall, and the hoard of devices, which was slowly advancing on him. He gulped. "Eheheh... just... kiddin'?"

over 4.5k words in two days, I am on a ROLL (was not expecting this chapter to be so long)

This chapter marks the halfway point in the book! 22 chapters before, and 22 chapters after. Big milestone!