Nightmare Factory

Plot
I wake up and try to move, but the ropes that are tying my arms and legs together prevent this. I'm in a dull blue room, a panel of Ectonurites are watching me. Most of them are generic, but one wears its second skin as a hood, and another has a metal hand. "WHERE DID YOU GET THE OMNITRIX?!" The hooded one screams. It makes me shiver. "Quiet Krueger! Now...Sydney Armidale is it?" The metal handed Sanct says. "How did you know my name?!" The metal-handed ghost smiles. "An Ectonurite's eyes can tell a person's name and fortune just by looking at them. For example, your...friend's name is Hannah Pryde, and her future's grim. But I don't need my eye to know that..." He snaps his 'normal' hand's fingers, and a display appears on a screen behind him. A video of a figure in a cage.

It's Hannah.

I suddenly feel something beyond anger at the Sancts, something so strong, that if I was free, I could tear them to shreds. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. They seem to smile at the mixture of anger and misery that I feel. I can manage to say one thing. "You...you..."

"Monsters?" Krueger says, his voice like a knife, each syllable cutting away at my hope, "If you think that we're cold-hearted, malevolent monsters..." He stops and leans towards me, as if to let the pain sink in before he inflicts another wound.

"You haven't even scratched the surface."

A chorus of horrific laughter fills the room. Thankfully, he's interrupted by another Sanct coming in. "Stage one is in action Voorheeves - we need you and Krueger to supervise." Krueger and the metal one (Voorheeves, I assume) snarl at the messenger but reluctantly move out of the room, passing through the walls due to lack of a door.

Silence shrouds the room. I see Hannah on the monitor, just sitting there, crying, and suddenly feel the urge to go and comfort her. I can't, of course; the ropes that are binding me prevent any movement. None the less, I still try to move my arm far enough to reach what Krueger called the Omnitrix. Nothing.

Trying something else, putting my tongue out, I maneuver the Omnitrix screen and clumsily push it down. I turn into a small, armadillo-like creature, seemingly made completely out of metal. My hands only have three fingers and have drills mounted on them. Let's see what we can do. I slide out the rope, not small enough to hold my new form, and stare at the monster. I'm coming for you Hannah

I move along, looking for any open vent or window. The Sancts are too smart for this, of course, having the ability to pass through things, they'd have no need for any way out. I try to think outside the box - putting my drill-hands against a wall, and creating a me-sized hole to climb through. Once I'm in, my head tucks into my body, and my arms and legs twist at strange angles. When the process is over, I'm a drill. I didn't even know I could do that.

After what seems like a century of drilling, I come to my senses and realise that I have no idea where I'm going. I kick around at the floor, hoping to hear something similar to the metallic clank of a cage being hit, but nothing happens. Dig down, I guess. I crash-land in a room full of large machinery, a control panel holding a collection of screens in the center - every screen showing pictures so fast that I can't see what they are. I have seconds to take this in, before dozens of Ectonurites come shooting at me. "Damn."

There's only one thing to do. I activate the watch. As soon as I'm transformed, I feel light headed and dizzy, but there's no time to worry about that. I start firing hundreds of electric bolts at them - faster than they can defend.

Seconds later, more flood in, and I don't have time to zap them all. So I hold out my arms, and fire a stream of electricity, hitting the first Sanct, but, amazingly, carrying on to the next. And the next. And the next. By the time they get the idea to move away, only two remain, so I finish them off with two lightning bolts; one for each of them.

I then turn back into the armadillo creature and start drilling again. My mind is on Hannah: Is she ok? Why haven't the Sancts killed her yet? If they aren't killing her, what are they doing to her? This last thought scares me. Ectonurites aren't exactly known for mercy. The only thing I could think of them needing her for is as a hostage to make me talk, but if they know that I've escaped, she wouldn't be needed, so they'd-

I stop. Half because I refuse to think of what happens next, and half because I realise that I've been drilling against steel for the last who-knows-how-long. I guess this is the answer.

But when I drill down into the cage, there is no Hannah. Only a shrill, familiar laughter. Its source - along with thousands of other Sancts - phase through the cage and face me. "Hello Sydney Armidale," Krueger says, "And welcome to your death."

"Where's Hannah?" I snarl. "Wherever your base is, I presume." "But I saw her, through the monitor, in here." "Have you ever heard of a handy thing called...video editing?" I was so dumb. They're known for killing, but also for trickery. Hannah was never in danger; I was. I reach for the Omnitrix, but Krueger slashes it the second that I press down on it.

When the light fades, I am made of some kind of wood and I'm taller as well; almost as tall as the surrounding Sancts. "Great. I could at least get a weapon." As if to answer my plea, an iron handle formed in my hand, growing out into a sledgehammer. How a hammer can help against the surrounding ghosts, I do not know. I swing it out of hope that one of the Ectonurites can't phase, and it connects with their jaw, sending them sprawling backwards. "What?" Krueger shrieks, "Turn intangible you absolute morons!" I spin the hammer in my and it collides with another Sanct's head, making it scream. I continue to hit them with the Sledgehammer until they all fly away, Krueger himself phasing into the floor.

What do I do now? The safe Sydney says to get back home, while the adventurous Sydney says to explore the plan that they mentioned.

Safety is not a luxury we can afford.

Major Events

 * Sydney is taken to the Ectonurite compound.
 * The Ectonurites are revealed to have a plan.

Characters

 * Sydney Armidale
 * Hannah Pryde (technically)

Villains

 * Ectonurites
 * Voorheeves
 * Krueger

Aliens Used

 * Drillbit (debut; x2)
 * Electro City (debut)
 * Sledgehammer (debut)

Trivia

 * Krueger and Voorheeves are named after the two most famous horror movie characters, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorheeves.
 * This is the first and last episode of HoE that Sol has written.