Chapter Text
“Uggghhh…”
The sound of a young man groaning echoed, their eyes groggily opening, vision incredibly bleary from their sudden wake up.
“Ah! Good, good. You’re awake! Just in time to begin…”
Another voice, this one distorted by the compression of poor quality electronics, sounded like an elderly male, a conniving lilt to their tone making it more than obvious of their malicious intentions.
“Wh-whaaa…? Hckk! Wh-what’s going… huh?”
Soon, the waking up boy was able to push himself to his hands and knees, their eyes clearing up enough to observe the unusual surroundings they’d been put in, and ‘unusual’ was quite the understatement.
The first thing they noticed was it appeared like a high security prison cell, constructed from materials as though built to contain dangers more terrible and wicked than a single young male adult. The walls appeared to be made of a continuous indiscernible metal, with no visible doors or windows in site. It was as though he had a steel cube built around him in his sleep rather than being put inside one.
The furniture itself was rather sparse, only seeming to have the essentials required to sustain a human life. The bed, which he had woken up on, matched the clinical colour scheme of the cell to a T, the mattress feeling incredibly stiff as though made of stone, the shoddy frame creaking under his weight. In addition to this was a metal sink grafted into the walls, a rather tiny shower cubicle with an equally small showerhead in the corner, a horizontal light fixture placed in the middle of the ceiling that constantly appeared two seconds away from blinking out, and a grimy-looking mirror.
Looking into the mirror, a befuddled young man with black hair and blue eyes stared back, bearing features one would call ‘handsome’ or ‘boyish’ if he’d put any effort into his appearance, seeing as the chaotic mop on his head appeared to have not been groomed in many months, his pale skin indicating no sunlight exposure for some time and the pizza stains on his black tanktop and shorts not doing him any favours. The only redeemable looking thing about him was the clear signs of musculature in his arms and legs, indicating some degree of dedication to regular workouts. Otherwise, he appeared to be a complete and total slob.
“Well? Are the ‘living quarters’ to your liking, Subject #003?”
The evil-sounding voice returning drew his attention to the source, it being a white speaker attached to a blinking camera looming over the entire room.
The young man, still incredibly confused as to what was even happening, responded.
“U-umm, where is… what am…?”
“Ah, yes. I had momentarily forgotten the proper protocol for integrating a new subject for experimental proceedings. Forgive me.”
The elderly voice did not sound sorry at all, but continued.
“You, Subject #003, have been optimally selected to engage in experiments being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in order to help in the development of military technology that will be used in ‘Enhanced Interrogation Techniques’. To explain the proceedings, we shall-”
“WAIT, WAIT WAIT WAITWAITWAIT!”
Appearing to have become fully conscious, the boy’s eyes widened in horror as he stared directly into the camera lens.
“Y-you’re telling me… I’ve been kidnapped by the Government to take part in torture experiments?! Huh?!”
The voice tiredly sighed at this, sounding both bored and as though he expected this.
“‘Selected for assisting your country with defending against foreign adversaries’, yes. Honestly, young people nowadays don’t read the whole contract when they sign something! Ridiculous…”
The black-haired youth raised a brow at this, more bemused than ever.
“Signed? I didn’t give permission for you to fucking abduct me in my sleep and put me in this steel trap! The fuck?!”
“I think you will find this set of documents to be rather interesting, then.”
The sudden shifting of a metallic contraption resonated through the sealed room, the young man soon noticing that there was in fact a singular access point into the cell that opened up, except that it appeared only tall enough for a rat to crawl through.
A neatly compiled set of papers were sent through the gap, summarily closing tightly again, with the black-haired boy picking them up and hurriedly scanning through them.
With a growing feeling of dread pounding in his chest as he analysed the computer printed text, as well as sections of his hand writing that he did, in fact, remember signing, the boy stared blankly at the wall in front of him, dropping the papers to the floor with limp arms.
“Oh. Shit.”
“Hmph, indeed. Whilst I will admit that the phrase ‘extracted to a secure government facility at an indeterminate time’ is rather misleading, whatever possessed you to sign such papers if you do not agree with this?”
He could only stare down at his bare feet, cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
“...I thought I was registering to vote…”
“...Seriously?”
“They were mixed in! I thought they were all one thing! Y’know?”
“...As I was saying-”
The youth could only groan at the cold dismissal.
“-You have been optimally selected from amongst three-hundred thousand, two-hundred and sixty-one others that have been signed up for this to engage in-”
“WAIT!”
The elderly man sighed through the intercom, now beginning to sound irate.
“What now, Subject #003?”
“You say I’ve been ‘optimally selected’, but like… why me? What makes me qualify for this unlike the other three-hundred thousand… er, so-and-so people?”
The voice of the old man took some time to respond, beginning to worry the youth that he’d irritated his kidnapper enough to simply kill him, when his voice echoed out again, clinical and cold.
“Aiden Baker, Age 18, son of Markus and Daisy Baker. Birth Date: 10th of April, 2007. Recently graduated highschool, albeit barely. Abysmal grades, inadequate attendance, no friends. Rarely leaves the house except for acquiring groceries requested by his mother, spends most of his time playing ‘horror-themed video games’, rather poor guitar playing-”
“SHUT UUUUUP!”
The now named Aiden clutched his hands over his ears, doing his best to keep out his dirty laundry.
“How do you know so much about me, anyway?!”
The elderly voice huffed, clearly unamused with all the interruptions but still taking a sadistic enjoyment out of his verbal tormenting.
“You should really advise your mother to stop putting all those… ‘Alexa’ things around the house. We pay Amazon barely more than a few dollars and they just give us your voice information. It’s honestly much more efficient than bugging your house ourselves.”
Aiden could only sigh depressingly at this.
“Figures…”
“As to why you were selected, you fit the criteria perfectly.”
Aiden stumbled to sit back on the lumpy mattress, confounded at this assertation.
“Really? Me? But I’m… well, an absolute failure. What help would I be?”
Before the black-haired boy could fall into a melancholic contemplation, the elderly man cut back in, an evil smile heard in his voice.
“Why, it is precisely because of your failings that you are the perfect candidate.”
Aiden’s eyes widened as the man continued on.
“No friends, no family outside of a mother and father, and severely limited social mobility due to lack of academic prowess? These are the key qualifiers that make a viable candidate for the initial selection process. It is why you were sent the documentation initially.”
Aiden slumped forward, almost seeming ready to cry.
“I get it, but you don’t have to keep saying it…”
“Furthermore,” continued the old man, ignoring him. “You possess additional characteristics that promote your applicability further.
“Advanced musculature from strength training. Unexpected and rather surprising from someone in your social conditions, but a desirable trait for the work to be carried out.”
“Well, yeah, if I didn’t work out regularly, I’d probably kill myself…”
“You also appear to possess well above average reaction time, almost to a supernatural degree. Although, why you choose to only apply this to ‘video games’ instead of something actually useful like football is beyond me. Young people, tch…”
Aiden was beginning to get slightly pissed at the demeaning of his character, even if it was almost completely true.
“Oi, oi! Not everyone finds enjoyment from scraping their knees on astroturf and-”
“Finally, you hold a highly vast repository of knowledge on the horror genre of video games, your ‘Steam’ account appearing to have one-hundred percent achievements in all titles in your library. I assume this is a good thing, since the ‘younger’ researchers promoted this as a huge bump to your recommendation.”
The sloppily dressed young man was back to being rather scared at how much they know about him. This wasn’t just Amazon-sourced voice recordings.
“H-how do you…?”
“Microsoft gave us access to your computer camera, and apparently you set your Steam account as… ‘Public’. Clearly, your underwhelming academic performance is not the only indicator of your lack of intelligence.”
The veins in Aiden’s forehead were beginning to throb.
“Grrr, fucking dickhead…”
“In summary, your mastery over the horror genre of video games, your exceptional reaction time and physical fitness, as well as your general lack of contribution to American society have designated you as a superb candidate to undertake the upcoming tests. You should be honored.”
Aiden took the time to digest the meaning of what the asshole on the other end of the intercom finished explaining. Apparently, the Government had determined that because it was likely his life wasn’t going anywhere (it was incredibly unlikely that any college would take him in with his current grades), and that very few people would… miss him, should something terrible happen, that made him a high-value choice for ‘torture device’ experiments. A rather cold, if logical decision to make, but one that he could sort of agree with if he didn’t possess a moral compass of any kind. Otherwise, it was pretty fucked up.
And whilst he could potentially understand how being fit and even a good reaction time might help in any possible physical tests, one thing didn’t really make sense.
“How would being good at horror games be of any use to this, though? I mean, I don't mean to brag but I am pretty good at them. But like, what purpose does that serve?”
The answer to the black-haired boy’s question came in the form of more mechanical noises, the shifting of levers and gears coming from where the small slot the papers were shoved in from, but this time a much larger segment of the wall opened up, raising into the ceiling and revealing a pitch black hallway. Multiple arrays of light fixtures blinked into action a moment later, the end seemingly so far away to appear endless.
“Enter the testing chamber and I will explain, Subject #003.”
Back to the number designation, much to Aiden’s consternation. Honestly, he didn’t think he’d ever feel like a D-Class from SCP at any point in his life, but well, here he was.
Walking glumly through the opened hallway, Aiden had time to think as lights turned on as he moved further through the cold corridor, his feet feeling numb as he listlessly trod forward.
Seriously, how could he not have read through the whole document?! He didn’t even want to do the whole registration thing, his dad enforcing it upon him with the statement that it was his ‘civic duty now that he was a legal adult’, which he thought was all bullshit anyway. Both parties seemed to suck dick to him, so why even bother? When he voiced this thought though, the elder Baker gave him a mean look and shoved the papers in his chest anyway. He loved his dad, but the guy was fairly stringent with political stuff like that.
His mother… well, she’d definitely be pretty upset at his sudden disappearance. Damn, hopefully he didn’t get torn apart from whatever sick contraption he was being forced against his will to test out. Even if he had technically signed himself up for it… fuck.
Well, whatever. He wasn’t surprised his government was still up for human experimentation, but jeez, why the hell anyone would purposefully sign up for this - about three-hundred thousand apparently - was beyond him. Probably some ‘legalese’ bullshit that made it appear more professional and humane than it actually was.
Either way, Aiden was hoping that because so many signed up for this that it wouldn’t result in his death, given that there would be no one in their right mind would volunteer for such a thing. He only really had his mom, and to a lesser extent his dad to live for, but he didn’t want them to be sad over him being ripped in half by a sawblade or something.
…Also, he would very much like to stay alive until at least GTA 6 was released. That was pretty important, too.
After a few minutes of walking through the overly long hallway - ‘Who designed this shit?’ - Aiden finally came upon a wide open chamber, still made from the same metallic material as the rest of the facility. That was all he could tell from entering, given that the room was completely pitch black from lack of any lighting apart from the ones in the hallway behind him.
Then the room sealed shut, causing Aiden to jump briefly at the quick and sharp *CLANK* as the room was enveloped in darkness.
“Hold on, hold on, I’m turning on the lights… there.”
The messy-haired boy covered his eyes as they were momentarily flooded with light, and upon adjusting, lowered his arm to witness something straight out of Star Trek.
A large platform surrounded by reflective gold plating was centred at the back of the room, a multitude of fluorescent lighting apparatus pointing towards the middle of the circular stage, likely acting as diagnostic tools. The opening that was visible in the front of the platform had another golden wall rotated to allow access, appearing to be a hatch that would seal whoever stepped inside entirely.
Other than the strange, futuristic device, the room was scarce of anything else barring multiple cameras pointing towards it, as well as a large TV screen indented into the leftmost wall.
Midway through Aiden’s analysis of his surroundings, the elderly voice chimed back in with his emotionless phonation.
“Look towards the screen on your left.”
Aiden did so, albeit reluctantly, and the screen popped to life, showing an image of a stickman standing within a cartoony representation of the device before him.
“You will be testing the efficacy of cutting-edge Virtual Reality technology that will subject the user to psychologically distressing environments, meant to induce severe amounts of mental suffering to the user which will provide a theoretically more efficient means of extracting truthful information or carrying out advanced intimidation.”
Already Aiden was turning chalk-white, ready to stutter out a protest, when the image changed with a click. This time, showcasing the same stick figure within a multitude of commonly depicted environments in horror franchises. The slideshow went through a forest, an abandoned hospital, abandoned school, a facility coated in blood, etc, etc. What was worse to the young Baker however were cartoonish depictions of monsters chasing after the stickman, some looking like zombies, others a blood-coated demon, and so on.
‘T-This looks like some Mandela Catalogue shit…’
“These environments,” Continued the old man as though reading out a medical diagnosis. “Have been extracted from existing horror game franchises that are notorious in human culture, having used Machine Learning algorithms to determine the most commonly agreed upon fear-inducing games to promote a higher probable level of psychological stress upon the user. Your job, Subject #003, is to test these environments, record their efficacy with the hidden camera installed on your left shoulder, give your thoughts and judgement on whether they have induced an appropriate amount of psychological strain on your psyche, and you will be free to go. Now… haaah, any questions?”
For once, Aiden had not interrupted the voice from the intercom during the explanation, due to the fact his jaw had dropped to the floor at the sheer ridiculousness and insanity of what he was being enlisted to do.
“Well?”
Taking some time to regain his bearings, sweat building up speedily on his brow, a nervously twitching smile overtook Aiden’s face as he faced towards one of the cameras.
“S-so… you’re basically s-saying that, you’ve got this crazy VR tech, a-apparently able to replicate ENTIRE video games as though they are ACTUALLY REAL, and you’re u-using it for… to subject people to torture?”
“Well, of course!” The elderly voice sounded indignant, as though Aiden was the insane one. “How else do you think this could fall under ‘military spending’? I had to suggest this under something my superiors would find useful to national security, you know? Dr. Clarkson already took the idea for ‘training soldiers in safe and regulated environments’, but that’s a rudimentary, basic application! I assure you, Subject #003, that you are contributing to science for the sanctity and security of your country.”
“Riiiight…” Aiden could only deadpan at the zealous exclamations. “But like, you’re saying these ‘environments’ are super realistic, right?”
“Correct. It is indistinguishable from the walk to school you never took, Subject #003.”
His forehead veins thickened again.
“I see… but then, this isn’t one of those, ‘you die in the game, you die for real’ situations, is it?”
The voice huffed at that suggestion.
“I’ve told you, yes? It is a simulated environment,” He said as though speaking to a child. “Whilst you may experience heavy amounts of pain, psychological stress and so on, all of these senses are fake. Once the testing is over, any damage you may suffer to your body is temporary. Does this reassure you?”
Given that he only said ‘temporary’, meaning that Aiden will indeed experience some level of pain depending on the game he gets sent to, then no, not really. And if he dies, what will that feel like? How can you temporarily die?
Aiden shivered at the thought, then sighed dejectedly.
“I can’t believe anyone would willingly go through with this…”
“Given that the remuneration package upon successful completion of all the tests results in ten-million dollars, an all expenses paid two-week trip to Italy, and a scholarship for any university desired by the subject, then the incentive is quite high indeed.”
…Okay, even Aiden might have considered signing if he had actually read the whole thing. Only considered, however.
“Any more questions, Subject #003?”
Aiden’s eyebrow began to twitch, his brow creasing in slight frustration.
“Yeah, can you stop calling me ‘Subject #003’? You know my name, for fu- wait…”
He suddenly came to a realisation that made his heart go back to irregular palpitations.
“Why am I the third? What happened to One and Two?”
“Ah, yes, horrible errors in the manufacture and programming of the device with those two,” The old man once again vocalised no remorse, even seeming to hint at a crooked smile in his voice. “Simply horrible… but not to worry! All kinks have been worked out, and Version 3.0.1 of the VR device - name still under debate - is more than ready for testing operations.”
Aiden was summarily, and unsurprisingly, unconvinced.
“Oi, oi oi oi, wh-what happe-”
“Please put on the tool I am depositing from the ceiling and enter the device.”
Very swiftly, a robotic arm holding a tiny watch-like accessory descended from a hole in the ceiling, holding it out eagerly towards the young man.
Aiden, still very much put off at the implied demise of the two before him, but clearly recognising he had no choice at this point, took the small contraption from the arm, which quickly returned back up through the hatch it came out, shutting behind it.
Observing the tool it indeed appeared like a watch, more specifically an Apple watch, although severely altered to the point it had no sign of any possible branding or association to the corporation. Additionally, no apps or timer was present, just a blank black screen with a green text cursor icon in place as though waiting to write out instructions.
“This watch will be your interface with the VR device, providing instructions as to how to complete your objectives in the virtual environment. Once all objectives are detected as being completed, the simulation will end and the test will end. However, if a significant amount of time has passed and your objectives have not been completed, a button will appear allowing you to leave the simulation early. This is a countermeasure in case you are not as good at these ‘horror video games’ as your profile suggests.”
Grumbling at the snide remark, Aiden grumpily slotted the watch on his right wrist, making sure it was firmly attached before walking into the containment chamber of the device.
Immediately upon entering, the lifted golden panel that allowed him to enter slotted back into place with a whir, trapping the scruffy-haired boy in the device.
It was honestly pretty blinding with so many colourful lights pointed at him, reflecting off of the golden plates surrounding him didn’t help either. The neon floor beneath his feet hummed ominously, making Aiden feel as though he was one second from being vaporised by some Dragon Ball Z tier laser.
“Now then, we will begin with a simple test to ensure you are familiar with the way the proceedings will go. I’ve got some notes from my, ugh, younger co-workers on how to carry this out appropriately, let me just…”
The rapid rustling of papers drowned out the humming floor, leaving Aiden there to nervously rub his arms as he waited for the mad man supervising him to get on with this.
Internally the young man was terrified beyond measure. Whilst normally the idea of incredibly immersive Virtual Reality was exciting to him, for it to be used in such a way was… well, not something he’d not expect from his dodgy government actually.
But really, the evil old man was technically right. What had Aiden been doing with his life other than leeching from his parents, skipping school out of fear of having to subject himself to the scrutiny of his peers, and never even trying to put himself out there? Really, he should be honored. The chance to pay back his family for not kicking him out for sitting in his room playing spooky games all day, make up for the lack of work ethic, and all he had to do was play horror games in VR to help the U.S. Government develop new torture technology? A little unethical, but still! If they were all games he was familiar with - and there was a 99.9% chance he would be given his track record - then maybe he wouldn’t have to experience any pain at all!
‘Yeah! I’ve got this shit!’
Successfully psyching himself up, Aiden bore a determined expression on his face, more resolve than he ever had in his life to see this through. For his mom! And sorta kinda his dad too.
Soon, the rustling and grumbling of the aged scientist ended, and with a cough, he returned.
“We shall be starting with a… erm, ‘Tutorial Level’ to establish what these tests are about. This shall be much easier and predictably quicker than the later environments, but enough to give you reasonable expectations as to how the later ‘Levels’ shall go. Ugh, this lingo is just…”
More shifting of papers, then he continued.
“It is expected to take no more than two hours to complete this ‘Tutorial Level’, and so you are given two hours before you are allowed to abort the simulation. Keep in mind however, such abortions of the tasks may result in penalisations in your final evaluation. I advise against it, if possible.”
Aiden’s eyebrow rose. Evaluation? Well, he didn’t realise he was being graded on this, but he guessed it was a given with this being an experiment and all. In fact, he even appreciated it. The journey towards 100% completion was a rough one, but rewarding! He’d reach for it, even in psychological VR torture machines!
“And finally, I am legally obligated to remind you that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is in no way, shape or form responsible for any last damage you may face to your person, whether physical or mental in nature, nor your possible death. As was mentioned in the contract you’ve… oh wait. You never read it. My apologies…”
Aiden’s brow twitched for the nth time. Whenever this old guy apologised, it never sounded like an apology at all…
“Either way, now you know. Understood?”
“Haaah… yep.”
“Wonderful. Now, beginning the ‘Tutorial Level’ test environment. Good luck.”
Aiden panicked as the scientist’s voice cut out, the whirring of the machine suddenly growing louder.
“Wait, wait WAIT! WHAT GAME AM I-”
That was all Aiden could say before all sound was drowned out, his vision going pure white.