"Welcome back to Escape Reality, the reality show where our contestants attempt to beat challenges and win prizes." The handsome presenter gestured to the crowd surrounding him as the camera panned across it. "I'm Darren Voss, and today we're here in Las Vegas, the capital of magic, and we've got an exciting challenge today."

Darren pulled the cloth off the metal box, sitting on two-foot tall, thin legs directly welded to the base. He flipped open the latch and let the door fall open, and turned the box so the crowd could see inside. "These quarter inch walls are each a single piece of solid steel, welded together."

The camera moved closer. "As you can see, there's no traps or panels, just some small holes for air. No screws or bolts on the inside either, everything's welded solid." He turned the box on its wheeled legs to show the crowd. "Let's bring out our contestant. Remember, this is live, and all our contestants have been selected from the crowd at random. And what are streaming viewers see is exactly what everyone in the crowd sees. Now, everyone give a big hand for Miko!"

The camera turned as a slender young woman, with pink hair in a pixie cut, stepped out of the crowd. She was wearing a tight skirt and a pink collared shirt, a purple beret on her head. She looked around, waving to the crowd and smiling, and stepped over to Darren.

"All right Miko- you've got a chance to win, if you can pass the challenge. Think you're ready?"

She smiled. "Well, for what's on the line, I'm definitely going to give it a shot."

"All right, then, Miko. To ensure everything's on the up and up, we do need you to take off your shoes... and the skirt. It might get difficult to maneuver, otherwise."

The young woman smiled, and pulled off her shoes one at a time, placing them on the concrete beside the box. She unbuttoned her skirt, and slid it off her slender hips and down her thighs, then stepped out of it, standing bare foot, in her top, as the audience applauded. She smiled wider, and tossed her hat to Darren, then pulled on the bottom of her shirt- "You know, I might as well take this off too."

With that, she pulled her shirt up and cast it off, standing in only her pink lace thong and bra, her nipples pert on her small breasts, the bumps visible through the thin fabric. The crowd cheered as she turned, and waved to everyone.

"All right, that's fine, Miko- don't take off anything else; we don't want to have to blur anything for our viewers. Now let's get started on the real challenge. Cross those arms behind your back, and Lila will get you strapped in."

A female helper wearing an "Escape Reality" shirt stepped forward, carrying metal shackles, as Miko reached back, each hand grasping the opposite elbow behind her back, arching her chest forward. Lila locked her wrists to her upper arms with short metal shackles, above her elbows, making it impossible for Miko to unbend or even move her arms.

"Go ahead and sit in the box, Miko, and we'll finish this first part up."

The contestant slid into the box, crouching over a bit, and kicked her legs up and down, before Lila cuffed her ankles together. She then wrapped a chain around Miko's knees, and had her curl up inside the box. The final touch was a collar around her neck, which was attached to the chains at her knees with a single padlock. "Feeling secure, Miko?"

"Very! I don't think I can move," she shook her head as she struggled a bit against the chains and shackles.

Darren turned to the crowd, "Well, she better figure out a way, because her challenge is to escape- and the longer it takes, the tougher it will be!"

Miko startled a bit as Lila flipped the door up, latching it shut, then securing it with a padlock. Then she brought out chains and wrapped them around all four sides of the chest, padlocking them at the top and bottom. Darren gestured broadly- "There- even if she could somehow escape her shackles, Miko now can't push the door open enough to even try and reach the latch. Of course, without lockpicks, there's not much hope of opening the padlock, is there? Well, good luck to her anyway."

He paused a moment, then turned to the main camera. "Now, I know what you're thinking. This is going to be pretty dull to watch." Darren shrugged, then smiled broadly. "But we did say we would be making things more difficult the longer it took- so let's keep making things tougher."

Lila brought out some long spikes, with holes near the tip and the end. She locked a padlock into the hole at the thicker end of each.

The presenter looked at the crowd. "Now I did point out the air holes, but they actually have another purpose. Lila- the spikes."

Lila picked up a spike and slid it into one of the holes in the side of the box, pushing slowly until it emerged from the corresponding hole on the other side. When the hole near the tip became visible, she slid a padlock through, locking the spike in place so it couldn't be pushed or pulled from inside of the box. She repeated the procedure, pushing another spike through the back of the box and out the door in the front.

"Not only do these spikes now hold the door securely shut," Darren explained, "They give Miko even less room to maneuver inside... Or else they're impaling her in which case she won't be moving at all."

He paused a beat.

"Uh, we should probably check on that," he continued, before rapping on the top of the box. "You still okay in there, Miko?"

From inside the box could be heard a muffled, "... yes? Uh, help?"

"Sorry, Miko, no outside help. Those were the rules."

Darren turned the box around again, to show the crowd all sides. "Lila, let's put in the rest of the spikes, slowly."

Lila slowly slid another spike through, from back to front, and locked it in place. Then more, one after another, until there were four spikes going through the front and four going through the sides, all padlocked to keep the walls and doors from moving.

"Miko's awfully quiet. She must still be in there, right? We've all been able to watch the box from all sides and haven't seen her make any progress at all." He rapped on the top of the box again. "Miko?"

Faint, from inside, "I think I can wiggle my toes..."

"Oh, come now, Miko, you've got to do better than that- it's in the show's title! You've got to Escape Reality!"

He turned back to the crowd, "Let's just give her a moment to try, while Lila and I prepare to make her predicament even tougher. Cheer if you see her make any progress!"

The main camera panned the crowd, watching in anticipation, while a second camera, in the inset for watching streamers, remained focused on the box containing Miko, showing everyone watching the same thing the crowd saw. It seemed to rock, just a little bit, as Lila and the presenter pulled out some containers of liquid on a palette jack.

"Now, remember- our contestant, Miko, is inside this box, shackled and bound quite securely, while those chains and spikes hold the door shut tightly. But, there's still room for her to wiggle a bit. So, we're going to pour this quick-set resin in through the holes in the top, and, unless she can somehow escape, she'll be soon trapped in a block of solid clear plastic- the final forfeit for her failed challenge."

Lila and Darren picked up two of the containers of viscous liquid, and slowly began to pour them into the box. "The spikes seal up those holes, so it won't leak out.. too much." Some of the thick liquid did seep out of the holes, the drips hardening quickly against the sides of the box.

"And we'll keep pouring until it tops off the box." As they finished the fourth container, the presenter turned. "The box is now half-full of resin, and it's already started to harden inside. And still no sign of Miko escaping."

After some more containers, the liquid slowly spilled across the top of the box, and thickly dripped onto the concrete. Darren grasped one of the spikes to spin the box around one last time, then stood back and watched. The crowd was nervously quiet. The box, completely still.

After a short time, he checked his watch. "Well. Ahem. It looks like Miko, uh, failed. Sadly." Lila picked up Miko's clothes from the ground as Darren approached the box. "Oh well! I guess the only thing left to do is take this back to our prop shop to pry the door off and enjoy our new paperweight. Clear a path, everyone."

He started pushing the box towards the crowd, which parted, except for a figure left standing in the path, who smiled. "Can I keep the paperweight as a souvenir?" Miko stepped forward, still clad in just her underwear, and, apart from the impressions from the chains and shackles on her skin, looking none the worse for her adventure. "Did I succeed in the challenge?"

Darren took her hand and led her back into the clearing in the middle of the crowd. "I think you did, Miko! Let's give her a big hand, everyone!" Miko curtsied, then smiled and waved.

Darren looked to the audience, "You've all been great, taking the time to watch us live." Then he turned directly to the camera. "And for our streaming viewers- wait until you see our next challenge!"