Yes, It's Jack

"This... is not good."

As Jessica made her way through the rooms, she found herself cringing in a bit of fear. Though it was gradual, the further she went, the lower the floors were. At first, when she knew a monster was close, she would use her flashlight to make them go away.

However, the pace was gradually picking up, as more and more of them steadily appeared, until multiple of them were showing up at once. She soon found herself with only 7 seconds of her flashlight left, despite only turning it on for the briefest of moments in order to dispel monsters.

Now, she found herself running, with several clanking footsteps coming from behind her as she kept turning her flashlight on in front of her to get on by. Eventually, she saw another figure in the distance and turned on her flashlight once more.

Though instead of disappearing, it simply revealed Mia. Jessica nearly cried upon seeing her.

"Y-You're still ok!"

Mia clicked her tongue.

"Turn off your flashlight already! We can't afford to waste any more time! I hardly have anything left."

Jessica hurriedly did as told, knowing that it was for the best. It was a little hard for them to talk since they had to continue running right after meeting each other. Though Jessica still got some words out through bated breaths.

"Did you see anyone else yet?"

Mia shook her head.

"No, I haven't. By the way, how much time do you still have on your flashlight?"

Jessica blinked a few times before answering.

"Ah, it's probably less than 10 seconds by now."

Mia nodded curtly.

"Then the next monster you see up ahead, you'll flash, and from there we'll alternate. Speaking of, we need it right now!"

There was a figure standing in the doorway. It made some shuffling sounds but didn't move out of the doorway. Jessica grit her teeth before turning on the flashlight, causing the figure to disappear before they continued on.

The rooms continued to become strangers, though they didn't know if that was a good or bad sign. Still, there was no time to contemplate it, as they simply had to keep running. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find the exit for a long while. As they gradually became more fatigued, it became harder to run as fast.

And naturally, that meant they were forced to use the flashlights more just so that they wouldn't die.

Jessica panted heavily as she forced herself to continue running. When she saw a monster ahead of her, she pointed her flashlight at it and attempted to turn it on. However, despite the soft clicking sound, no light came out.

Mia caught onto this rather quickly and turned on her flashlight in a hurry. Yet, when she did, it only sputtered, turning on for a split second before flashing and turning off. Although she was able to raise it in time to get rid of the monster in front of them, the time for their flashlights ran out.

Not to mention, both of them had already become incredibly exhausted.

Jessica strangely didn't seem all that upset about it.

"Ah... I guess we're dead now. Hopefully, the other Jack will be able to figure things out."

Mia clicked her tongue as she yanked Jessica's arm.

"Don't give up so fucking easily! We aren't dead yet!"

They continued to run, though they were stumbling forward more than anything. It wasn't all that much faster than an average walk. As for the monsters around them, although they would've normally caught up by now with the speed they were initially going at, they didn't.

Instead, the things lurked behind, matching the speed so that they would just be a little far back behind them. But they weren't just doing nothing either. Although metallic sounds echoed throughout the place all the time at this rate, they were different now.

It sounded bulkier and... deliberate, for lack of a better word.

The figures gradually became blending into one another, combining and meshing to become something far larger, and far more terrifying. It did not take long for the size to be too much for even the larger doorways, but that didn't impede the new creation by much.

Although the walls blocked it, the mass of metal, stuffing, and flesh slammed into them, slowly bending them away. It appeared that they were purely using sheer mass to bulldoze their way through.

As for why this method was chosen despite the fact it would've been incredibly easy to just kill them normally was unknown, but that was simply what was happening. The mass gradually grew larger and larger, as the original purpose of everything seemed to get lost.

Yet, while Jessica and Mia were straining themselves despite their burning lungs, the walls not too far in front of them smashed open.

Jessica put both hands above her chest.

"It looks like this is it..."

Although Mia was against giving up, she felt her heart sink. Despair had essentially consumed her. However, they were greeted with a rather cheery voice.

"Ah, it's you guys!"

Jack slammed through the wall along with one of the monsters, with one hand on their face. After landing, he continued scraping the thing's head against the floor, which was definitely enough to split the skull of even the hardest of normal humans.

However, the thing under him kept moving.

Jessica let out a gasp upon seeing him.

"Y-You! Do you still have your flashlight?"

Jack tilted his head to the side.

"Eh? Yeah, why?"

Mia frowned and pointed behind her with distress.

"That thing behind us! Just look at it!"

Jack blinked a few times before doing as they said, casually taking out his flashlight and shining it. The monster underneath him was caught up in it and disappeared, and as for the giant mass of electronics chasing after them, it suddenly vanished as well.

The only thing that proved their existence was a series of broken walls down where the beam of light shone.

Jack scratched the side of his head after seeing that.

"What are you talking about? I don't see anyone."

Mia's eyelid twitched as a retort came up her throat. However, she didn't have the energy for it.

"Fucking... whatever. Thanks for saving us. Now we just have to find the exit..."

Jack put a finger on the bottom of his mask.

"Ah! No need, I already found it. We should stay here to play instead!"

Jessica looked at him strangely.

"Eh? Have you already found the exit? C-Could you take us to it?"

Jack let out a small hum.

"Oh, you guys want to find it too? I guess that is how you win the game..."

Mia pursed her lips and furrowed her brows.

"You... did you come back to save us?"

Jack seemed rather confused by the questions, but answered them honestly anyway.

"No, why would I want to waste the fun that you could have?! I was just having fun trying to meet with friends and found you guys!"

A small awkward silence lingered as both parties were rather confused by what the other person appeared to be talking about. In the end, Mia shook her head and decided to move on.

"Whatever, please just take us to the exit. We can provide compensation if we really do get out of here alive."

Jack let out a laugh.

"Aww, you already want to stop?"

Jessica timidly nodded.

"W-Well, yes..."

Jack let out a sad hum.

"If that's how it is... then I guess it can't be helped. I think it was this way."

And so, he led the way back where he came from, casually using the flashlight to light up their way. In the end, all of the monsters that showed up disappeared soon after because of the light.

By the time Jack's flashlight began sputtering and shut off, they were simply a few feet away from the bright light of a door. Mia mumbled to herself upon seeing it.

"Holy shit... it's actually there."

Jessica turned to look at Jack with a bright smile.

"Thank you so much for helping us even though we've hardly known each other."

As for Jack, his wounds had all healed in the time that they spent walking. And once they did, he found that the mask felt a little bit loser. Since it felt that way, he took off the mask, which rapidly transformed into a Joker card while all of his clothes reverted back to normal.

"What are you talking about? I think we know each other very well!"

Mia and Jessica's eyes widened. Mia was the first to speak up, pointing at him with a trembling finger.

"Y-You're the same person? But what the hell was with the strange get-up and monster behind you?! I could've sworn we were only in that game for a few hours. Was time dilated and the outside world really went on for much longer?"

Jack stared back with a dazed expression.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

As for Jessica, she found it difficult but got the words out.

"Y-You're really Jack?"

In response, he looked back while scratching the back of his head.

"Um, yeah. I told you that twice already, didn't I?"