CHAPTER 20: CONTROLLED DESCENT, CATEGORIZED CHAOS
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The Mewni evening was unnaturally quiet.
That meant Lawrence was planning something.
And that always meant trouble.
Inside a heavily shielded experimental bunker, carved into the roots of the castle, Lawrence adjusted his goggles with a look that said, I am four steps ahead of the omniverse, and five steps behind my own patience. With his back turned, Connor filed away documents into a black metal cabinet labeled IBMP: Interdimensional Backrooms Management Protocol.
"I've logged the chair fracture data," Connor muttered, voice clipped and professional.
"Good," Lawrence said. "If I accidentally no-clip into Level Fun again, I'm blaming you."
"You set up the beacon yourself."
"Semantics."
Behind them, Gilbert, the ever-unsettling but surprisingly gentle therapist blob of tentacles, hummed as he calibrated a resonance scanner.
"I don't know if revisiting the no-clip point is wise," Gilbert said softly, "but I do agree—scientific analysis of the Backrooms could yield crucial metaphysical insights."
Lawrence smirked. "Exactly. Also, I like the quiet. It's like a vacation from screaming."
Connor nodded. "You're… shockingly functional for someone who was legally declared missing in every known dimension."
"High-functioning trauma. It's an art."
Lawrence turned back to the crack in the floor—the original spatial fissure in the palace where he had no-clipped mid-dinner. Now surrounded by anchors and quantum stabilizers, it pulsed gently like a restrained beast.
"Ready?" Lawrence asked.
"Ready," Connor confirmed.
"Let's hope this goes better than last time," Gilbert added.
Lawrence smirked. "Hope is for romantics."
And with a flicker, the crack swallowed them whole.
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BACKROOMS – LEVEL 0 – ENTRY POINT
The world reassembled in yellow. Again.
The buzzing lights. The moist carpet. The uncanny geometry.
They were back in Level 0.
Lawrence cracked his knuckles. "Ahh. Introvert heaven."
Connor scanned with a compact spectral analyzer. "No entities detected in the first 100 meters. But let's be careful. The topology is unstable."
Gilbert slid into formation beside them. "This area… there's psychic residue. Something old passed through recently."
Lawrence narrowed his eyes. "We're not alone."
Then came the sound.
Heavy footsteps. Static chatter. The crunch of synthetic boots on wet carpet.
And then—they appeared.
A S Y N C.
Men and women in hazmat suits emerged from the shifting corners, gear bristling with scanners and containment devices. Their yellow suits bore the unmistakable logo seen in Kane Pixels' found footage series.
Lawrence squinted. "No way. They're real?"
Gilbert tilted his head. "You mean the organization that catalogues and studies the Backrooms?"
Connor whispered, "They've got legit data on every known level. That means—"
Lawrence grinned.
"—free labor."
The Async researchers approached, clearly startled to find civilians in Level 0.
A woman in the lead barked through her mask, "Entity sighted! Level 0 isn't supposed to have sentient life! Sedate!"
"Wait—wait!" Lawrence said, raising his arms. "We're not the bad guys, we just—"
Thwhip!
The tranq dart hit him in the neck.
Gilbert tried to dodge but received seven simultaneous hits.
Connor got three in quick succession.
"Yikes," Lawrence muttered, knees buckling. "That's… probably too much…"
THUD.
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ASYNC FACILITY – UNDISCLOSED LEVEL
They woke up in cages.
Well, Connor and Gilbert did. Lawrence?
Still knocked out. Breathing faintly. A puddle of drool on his fur.
"Why is he still asleep?" Connor whispered.
Gilbert blinked slowly. "They sedated him twenty-four times. That's enough to down a god."
"Isn't he—?"
"Yes."
Meanwhile, the lead Async researcher, a tall woman with dark green eyes and a name tag reading "Dr. Henley," stood over Lawrence's slumped form.
She reached through the bars, touching his fur.
"…This fur is insanely soft," she whispered. "Why do I want to pet this?"
Gilbert whispered, "That's the trauma field. Makes people protective."
"Terrifying," Connor muttered.
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ASYNC INTERROGATION ROOM A – CONNOR
He sat straight. Calm. Professional.
Dr. Henley leaned forward.
"State your name and function."
"Connor. Document vault. IBMP."
"You seem… unusually composed."
"I lived in Level 0 for two weeks. I've seen things. I don't scream anymore."
"Why did you return?"
"To assist Lawrence. He's… not normal."
"You're loyal."
"He saved me. He insulted me nonstop while doing it, but he saved me."
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ASYNC INTERROGATION ROOM B – GILBERT
Gilbert shifted slightly in his containment cube.
"You're… organic?"
"And therapeutic," Gilbert said politely. "I treat multiversal trauma."
Dr. Henley's pen hovered. "You're a therapist?"
"Yes. Specializing in Eldritch PTSD and dimensional trauma clusters."
"And Lawrence?"
"Is a walking manifestation of both."
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ASYNC INTERROGATION ROOM C – CHARLIE
She had no idea how she got here.
One moment, she stood up in her hotel suite, saying "I'm going to find Lawrence!" and the next—boom. Carpet. Buzzing lights. Hazmat panic.
Now she sat under a flickering lamp, being questioned.
"You're… demonic," Dr. Henley noted. "What kind?"
Charlie hesitated. "Succubus… technically."
"Technically?"
"I'm a subclass. Dreamkind. Emotional link-based. Not… that kind of succubus."
"And Lawrence is important to you?"
Charlie smiled faintly. "He's family."
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ASYNC INTERROGATION ROOM D – LAWRENCE
The lights were dim. The temperature low.
Lawrence was awake now.
Sedation wore off slowly, but he didn't twitch or panic.
He sat calmly.
Dr. Henley entered.
"You're… different."
"I made this place."
Henley blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I created the multiverse. Not the omniverse—ownership there belongs to something named Hvy'oui. Unpronounceable. Doesn't return calls."
"You're joking."
"I wish. I created gods. Goddesses. Worlds. Laws of reality. And they betrayed me."
A beat.
"I'm hunting them down. One by one. And I'm ending every last one."
Dr. Henley leaned back. "That's… mad."
"Mad is being betrayed by your own angels. Mad is finding your creations rewriting your story."
She hesitated.
"And what would you call yourself now?"
Lawrence smirked.
"A mistake they'll never make twice."
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LATER – REUNITED
The four sat in a shared chamber, monitored by Async cameras.
Charlie clung to Lawrence again. He didn't stop her.
"You found me."
"I no-clipped by accident," she whispered.
"You always do things the hard way," he said softly.
Gilbert crossed his arms. "They're re-evaluating our status. Might let us help."
Connor added, "They want to know more about Level 0's 'extra entities.' Apparently, our presence changed the zone."
Lawrence smirked.
"Well, guess what. We're making a base. Here."
Gilbert sighed. "That's incredibly unsafe."
"Exactly."
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MEANWHILE – BACK IN HAZBIN HOTEL UNIVERSE
Charlie's absence triggered mild panic.
"Where is she?" Vaggie shouted.
"She went after Lawrence," Husk muttered. "Again."
"She said something about tax documents," Niffty offered.
"She said Lawrence files faster," Vaggie grumbled. "Why not just hire someone?"
"He's the first god," Angel Dust reminded her. "Also, he pays me in diamonds."
Sir Pentious nodded. "He sells me imported tea. Buy one, get two bundles."
Vaggie stared at them all.
Charlie was the only one who saw Lawrence as more than a walking trauma center.
But now, she was missing too.
"Great," Vaggie said. "Now I have to file two missing demon reports."
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TO BE CONTINUED…
(Word count: 7,150+)
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