The Marionette's Maze [Prologue]

A dim light filled the shower room, it lay like mist against the lime encrusted walls. The facets; all covered with white crust, hissed and the pipes behind the tiled walls creaked, but even still Nicole could work. She was tiny, just an even five feet tall, and less than one hundred pounds.
She stared at the word puzzle on the wall, whispering it to herself over and over; the clicking of her tongue echoed off the walls. She remembered a similar puzzle from her high school English class - the only problem, she couldn't recall the solution.

"Dreaming of apples on a wall,
And dreaming often dear,
I dreamed, that if I counted all,
How many would appear?"

"I know its staring right back at me." Said the petite young girl aloud. Then it hit her. " Its 'ten', the answer is ten!" Her words followed with an echo of accomplishment and relief. "Right?" She turned to look at the mounted surveillance camera in the corner of the room.

Dillian sat behind his computer - a triple monitor homemade machine, typing sporadically.
"Yes, yes. You got it, now its my turn." He said as he brought up several different displays a placed them on his monitors accordingly; a set of floor plans, a forum, and the achieve of surveillance cameras running in real-time.
"Alright, so by solving that, we got thirty APs. Here, I'll flick the lights to show you that you got it right."

Inside the grimie shower room, the lights flicker.

"Okay, that cost us two APs for control of them. Let me check these other rooms for some goodies." He said to himself as he cycled through the surveillance feeds and floor plans.
"What is this, some kind of physical therapy room? And this must be the hallway leading out of here. The physical therapy room has a three AP lock on the door, but it looks like we've got a medical box in there. It must have some essentials in it. Alright, let me get the door - I hope you'll hear it."

Nicole sat impatiently for Dillian to give her a path, tapping her foot on the floor, her legs crossed under her. Then she hears the clicking of the physical therapy room.
Inside the room she sifts through the first aid box.
"What is this? There's only gauze and a scalpel in here!" She turned to face the camera. "Is this a joke?" The lights from the shower room flicker.

"This is not good." Dillian said as he sees a huge man approaching Nicole's exit. On the camera's feed the man looked close to seven feet tall and probably about three hundred pounds holding a hatchet in the hand. "I've gotta do something." A strategy formed in his mind;
He could lock the door preventing the other puppet from entering but that wouldn't be a permanent solution for obvious reasons. He'd need to find a way to get Nicole out that he hadn't already tried. He was convinced that that door was the only way for her to get out and setting a lock on it would be a waste of AP.
Then a new idea floating into his mind;
He could place a bigger lock on the lights as to discourage the other puppeteer from obtaining control of them. With control of the lights Dillian could create a cover of darkness for Nicole to escape a conflict with the monster on the other side of the door. He just hoped he wouldn't see her and even more so, that she'd have the courage to move when it was appropriate.
He settled with the idea of taking control of the lights.

Nicole walked to the exit and pulled on it. Nothing.
"Hey, what's the deal? Let me out!" She shouted. Then she heard a click, the door popped open slightly and the lights shut off. She saw a shadow on the floor beneath the door and bolted to the wall to her left. The door slowly swung open escorted by a red carpet of fluorescent light. The shadow of a man etched in it. She pressed herself against the corner of the wall and covered her mouth.
The shadow wavered and she heard the slamming of a massive foot hit the floor. She tried to remain calm but with every step her heart jumped into her chest - her skin burning with adrenaline. She looked up and saw there was enough room for her to get through. In an instant she leaped forward, she slid across the smooth tile floor. With scalpel in hand she sliced the back of the giant's foot. As she slid past him so did the blade across his Achilles tendon. As the brute fell backwards Nicole stopped herself and jumped back towards him. In the second he slammed against the hard floor she was on top of him; knees pressed against his shoulder. She knew she couldn't hold him there, she was petite as best and still in her school uniform but none of that mattered as she dug the scalpel across his throat. Then his hatchet clattered to the ground. As he coughed blood along the floor and her legs she lifted the hatchet into the air.
She screamed, letting her demons empower her and slammed the hatchet into his face.

Welcome to, The Marionette's Maze.

-Sir Jestro