Evie's hands trembled around the stopwatch. "…What if we vote?"
The group exchanged uneasy glances.
Nova sighed. "Fine. Hands up if we use it now."
Liam's hand shot up instantly.
Ryan hesitated before raising his hand, his timer dangerously low. Jin slowly followed.
Three votes.
"Hands up if we wait," Nova said.
Ace, Mia, Nova, Evie, and Carter raised their hands.
Liam's jaw clenched. "…You're really gonna just watch me run out of time?"
Carter adjusted his glasses. "No. We're going to find another way. That thing outside doesn't have infinite stamina. If we wait, it'll leave."
Liam scoffed. "Yeah? And what if it doesn't?"
[3:20]… [3:19]…
The door suddenly stopped shaking.
Silence.
Everyone held their breath.
Ace's grip tightened into fists. It was still out there. Waiting.
A whisper echoed through the safe room.
"Tick, tock."
Ryan's eyes widened. "Did it just talk?"
Nova exhaled sharply. "No way. No way that thing—"
BANG!
The door dented inward.
Ace's stomach twisted. It was getting through.
Mia backed up against the wall. "This safe room isn't holding."
Evie gritted her teeth. "We need to run."
Ace looked at the only other exit. A narrow maintenance hatch in the floor. It wasn't big—but it might be their only chance.
"Through there." He pointed. "We go one by one. Fast."
Liam didn't hesitate. He yanked open the hatch and dropped in.
Ryan followed. Then Jin. Then Evie.
[2:30]… [2:29]…
The door bent even further. Cracks formed in the metal.
"Go, go, go!" Nova pushed Carter in, then climbed down herself.
Ace grabbed Mia's wrist and jumped in last—
Right as the door burst open.
The last thing he saw before the hatch slammed shut—Was the Collector stepping inside.
As soon as they entered the vault, a single thought struck them all at once.
The Collector has infinite time.
Ace exchanged glances with the others, the realization settling like a weight in his chest. They were here, scrambling for minutes, seconds even—while one person sat at the top, completely untouchable.
Liam, still clutching his two-minute timer, was the first to say it. "What if… we take his time?"
A heavy silence followed.
Nova crossed her arms. "How? He's not exactly handing it out like candy."
Carter adjusted his glasses, thinking. "If he has infinite time, that means there has to be a way to access it. Nothing in this game is truly unlimited."
Mia's brows furrowed. "Unless he's outside the system."
Ace shook his head. "No. If he was completely untouchable, he wouldn't need the vault. He wouldn't need this game at all."
Ryan exhaled. "So… there has to be a way to steal it."
The idea was ridiculous. Crazy.
But in a death game where time was currency, what was crazier?
Evie tapped her chin. "Let's say we do try to take his time. Where do we even start?"
Liam's eyes flicked to the far end of the vault, where a massive clock loomed over them. "The system gave us time when we entered. If we can figure out how it distributes time, maybe we can manipulate it."
Ace studied the surroundings. There were mechanisms, consoles, and glowing inscriptions across the walls. It was clear this vault wasn't just a place to store time—it was a machine meant to control it.
Nova stepped forward. "If we crack this system, we might not have to fight for scraps anymore."
Ace's eyes darkened. "Then let's find a way to hack time itself."
Before anything else, they had to make sure no one died.
Liam's timer blinked [2:00], and he wasn't the only one cutting it close. A few others had barely three or four minutes left. If they wasted even a second, someone would be gone before they had a chance to act.
Ace turned to the group. "First, we need to balance everyone's time. If one of us runs out before we figure this out, it won't matter."
Mia nodded. "We all put in time for the puzzle vault, so we should be able to spare some."
One by one, they started transferring time to those who were in danger.
Ace gave five minutes to Liam.
Nova passed four minutes to Ryan.
Carter split three minutes between two others.
Each second that moved between them felt like trading for survival.
Liam let out a shaky breath as his timer climbed to [7:00]. "Okay… okay. I can breathe now."
Ryan checked his wrist. [6:30] "Not great, but better than before."
Nova clapped her hands. "Alright. No one's dropping dead in the next few minutes. Now—let's figure out how to rob an immortal."
Ace turned his gaze toward the massive clock in the vault.
Time was their biggest enemy. But what if they made it their greatest weapon?
Ace frowned. "Wait… if this place is just a storage unit for time, then how does the Collector have infinite time?"
Mia crossed her arms. "That's the real question. We weren't given extra time when we entered, so that means time isn't just floating around in here waiting to be grabbed."
Liam clenched his fist. "Then how does he never run out?"
Carter studied the glowing symbols along the walls, his gaze sharp. "What if he's not hoarding time? What if he's leeching it?"
Nova's eyes widened. "You mean… what if he's siphoning time from us?"
The room fell silent.
Ace glanced down at his timer. [12:42]. He had more time than Liam, but that didn't mean he was safe. None of them were.
"If that's true," Mia said slowly, "then every second we stand here, he's taking from us."
Ryan's expression darkened. "So, what happens if we cut him off?"
Ace's smirk returned. "Then we take back what's ours."
Now, it wasn't just about stealing time.
It was about revenge.
Ace turned to Carter. "Can you figure out how he's pulling time from us?"
Carter adjusted his glasses and ran his fingers along the glowing symbols on the wall. "If my guess is right, the Collector isn't just sitting on a pile of time—he's drawing from a source. And that source is every single player."
Nova cracked her knuckles. "So we're all his battery. Great."
Liam checked his wrist again, his timer ticking down from [6:53] to [6:52]. "Okay, this is messed up. If we don't find a way to stop it, we're gonna be drained dry."