Work Text:
Paintbrush
“Does anyone else hear that siren noise?” That question was the last thing OJ said. He pointed in one direction, began backing away from nothing, and fell over dead. Then two other residents, Nickel and Pickle, both screamed from somewhere further into the hotel. Paintbrush and Lightbulb had just gotten to the party, and it was already devolving into panic.
Paintbrush cleared their throat and elbowed Lightbulb. “We should go investigate that, right?”
She nodded, excited to spend time with her friend even if it was right after a murder. “Let’s go, Painty!”
Lightbulb immediately bolted towards Pickle’s room, leaving Paintbrush frantically following behind. She stopped abruptly in the doorway, causing Paintbrush to slam into her. “Why did you stop?!” They yelled at her, before looking inside the room.
Pickle and Nickel lay dead on the floor, the latter clearly having been moved into the room. Baseball stood there, staring blankly at the corpses.
Paintbrush immediately jumped into action. “Why are you in the room with two dead bodies? What happened here?!”
Baseball glanced up at them, wincing. “I didn’t do this, if that’s what you’re asking! Nickel said he was hearing some kind of siren noise, then it seemed like he saw something I couldn’t, and he just… dropped dead. I was moving him out of our room and found Pickle.”
So Nickel and OJ both had similar experiences, then. As Lightbulb kept talking to Baseball, Paintbrush investigated the room. Pickle’s window was broken from the outside. Someone had broken into the hotel. They then noticed the TV glitching, the screen switching between static and colorful bars.
It was at that moment that they remembered Taco. The girl was banned from entering Hotel OJ, so she would have experience breaking in. She had many gadgets that would allow her to mess with technology and turn invisible, which explained the TV and everyone being unable to see the culprit. Not to mention, all three victims were people who Taco hated! It all added up! The only problem was the siren noise…
“Ooh, Painty, you got an idea?” Paintbrush flinched, turning to Lightbulb and allowing the hole in their theory to completely slip from their mind.
“When did you stop talking to Baseball?” They questioned. Lightbulb shrugged.
“A few minutes ago.” She examined the room, then glanced at Paintbrush. “Soooo, do you have a culprit? You seemed like you had an idea!”
They nodded confidently, walking out of the room. “We have to go find Taco.” Lightbulb winced at the name, but followed them.
It was surprisingly easy to find the Brit. She was sitting in Nickel’s room, curled up with obvious tear tracks on her cheeks. Paintbrush slammed the door open, glaring straight at her. “Taco,” They growled, then immediately jumped into accusations. “Why did you do it?!”
Taco yelped. “What? What did I do?!”
“You’ve been killing people! OJ, Nickel, Pickle, they’re all people you’ve wronged! It has to be you!”
“I didn’t do anything! I was in the room when Pickle died, but I swear it wasn’t me! There was something in the room with us. He saw it, but I couldn’t, and then he just-” she covered her mouth as more tears streamed down her face. Taco took a deep breath, then continued. “I swear it wasn’t me!”
“Liar! If you were with Pickle, then why are you in Nickel’s room?”
“Because I didn’t want to be accused if I was in the room with a dead body!” Paintbrush was so invested in accusing Taco, they barely even noticed when Lightbulb snuck off.
Lightbulb
Lightbulb believed Taco immediately. Sure, she had lied before, but this seemed genuine! And some clues didn’t add up. The victims died too fast after each other for any normal human to accomplish. Taco would have had to kill OJ in the lobby, run to Pickle’s room and kill Pickle, then run to Nickel’s room and kill him immediately after. And what about the siren noise? How was she doing that? And-
A sound similar to a siren blared in her ears, stopping her thought process in its tracks. “Speak of the devil!” She turned to meet the killer in the eyes. “Taco?” As Lightbulb caught sight of the alarm’s source, her heart dropped. That was not Taco.
It was some kind of mechanical monster. She didn’t know what it was, much less how to describe it to anyone. Its limbs were black claws, and it had absolutely no facial features except a glowing red X that left a similar silhouette on her face. Lightbulb stared up at the creature and screamed.
She dodged the creature’s attack and ran, desperately trying to find help. “Painty! It’s not Taco, it’s not Taco!” She bolted past them, using her best friend for cover. Paintbrush looked at her, then in the direction she was running from. They clearly couldn’t see it, but they trusted her.
They grabbed a knife and slashed in the monster’s direction, hitting it directly where its stomach would be. The invisibility apparently shut off after that attack, because Paintbrush’s eyes widened in fear. “What the heck is that?!”
As the creature recovered and moved to attack the duo again, Paintbrush ran straight at it and plunged the knife deep into its body. They pulled it out and stabbed again and again and again, refusing to slow down until the beast stopped moving.
Paintbrush finally dropped the knife and looked at Lightbulb. They met eyes, having a silent conversation about all that just happened. Then they ran over to each other and embraced, refusing to let go.
They did it. They stopped the murderer. And they lived to tell the tale.