Post by GoldenKitten on May 30, 2011 20:54:41 GMT -4
The angular white room was made out of Hexagons, each met end to end and forming an irregular circle shape. Each “corner” wall had a hatch on it with the “top” hexagon sporting a maneuverable arm and track, it didn't take a genius to realize the room could rotate and the device could receive objects along the track from various sources outside the room. Constant loud humming suggesting mechanical constructs and the cooling units that surrounded them filled the room to the point one had to wear earplugs to avoid damage. Though difficult to tell from inside the subtle hint of motion spun the room about before a chute opened and the motorized arm quickly snapped it up, accurately maneuvering it to sit in the middle of the room.
“Item #39-C on todays agenda. Item showcases no further growth in any spectrum. By study article #21109 of the Research Charter this deems the item an inefficient drain on company assets and makes it suggested for deletion via incineration. Due to lacking mental inhibitors item will remain in stasis until such a time if so voted, item requires votes of one senior member and two overseeing techs. I as the senior member invoke a motion for vote, what say you?”
“Aye.”
“Aye.”
“Aye. Motion is accepted. Senior Member Hawkings and Techs Reicher, and Salude are on hand via unanimous vote. Item #39-C will be moved to storage until a date of destruction can be appointed.”
The three men standing around the table in white plastic suits and air rebreathers went about their work mechanically. All of them were fully aware that each “item” was a human life but they alloted them for further experiment or “deletion” with all the emotion of robots. As they stood around the table checking off on hand-held digital boards the arm came down, retrieved the cask, inserted it into the far wall, the room seemed to rotate again, and another was pulled out before being placed in front of them in the same fashion.
“Item #40-C on todays agenda. Item showcases no further growth in any spectrum. By study a-”
Like an automated process work continued with almost no variation through the rest of the day save for the occasional item that was OK'd for progress into one of the main projects. In that event they altered the process by making a call to a Senior Science Officer for an additional positive vote, joyous variety!It would stay like this for many hours still and dozens of votes, none requiring actual thought, all would have been just as effective if performed automatically, ruled by an ingrain set of rules with no margin for difference. But then of course, that was the point.
Senior Member Hawkings was standing in the middle of the room as the arm carried another cask out of the room. In between the transportation of items he momentarily removed his rebreather and pulled a sterilized water flask from his belt before turning to look at the list in his hand. As he replaced the flask on his belt his visible face scrunched up as the next item took several minutes to arrive, this was of concern as at longest it took thirty-seconds on the norm. Of course there were inconsistencies but because the operation was largely mechanical they were few and far between, given that the next item was of low level import it seemed likely something had gotten locked up in the chute.
Just as Hawkings was moving to the communications panel to alert the program to the issue the room began to spin and a chute opened. Satisfied he backed off and pulled the mask back over his face, grabbing the board and scanning for the proper article.
“Item #67-C on todays agenda. Item showcases no...further...”
Trailing off as the cask was retrieved and placed in the middle of the room nobody knew how to respond immediately. Instead of a white ovular shaft with an opaque window to view the item inside this was instead a pure red rectangle with complex electronic read-outs all along its body, equally there were no obvious viewing ports to what was inside. None of them had ever seen a container of this nature but the “E” identifier in the number on its side combined with the restrictive nature of the device marked it as a high-ranking project, not something that would be sent to the disposal without prior warning, it also didn't match the supposed item on the list.
After getting over the initial confusion Hawkings approached the container and copied the number on its side to his datapad, clearly performing a search as he spoke absentmindedly, “No matches on the main server. Oh dear, if I wind up filling out paperwork for the next ten days because those fools upstairs sent this to the wrong place I'll....” he trailed off into a sigh.
“Reicher get into contact with command and tell them what we have here...there goes our lunc-”
The room rocked with unexpected and incredible fury as far off a dull thud sounded off, given the thickness of the walls surrounding them the actual site of the sound must have been catastrophically concussive. Warning alarms went off but were quickly cut off as the room lurched once more and seemed to drop a few feet from whatever space it was mored, hitting with a slam and rolling to its side for a bit before coming to a stop though thanks to its shape the casks location was the only real identifier that the rooms angle had changed at all. It was also now incredibly quiet, the machinery that kept the room in motion being promptly deprived of the electricity that had made it such a noise factory before.
Hawkings moved to the nearest console as quickly as possible but from everywhere in the room the flashing red symbols showed it had been disconnected. Regardless he began to rapidly tap on the keys as he called out trying to scan the channels for a connection but all that came back across the rooms speakers was static. After a few moments he began to back off and talk in a rapid tone his intelligence clearly at war with his timid nature when you took him out of his comfort zone, “Alright then, ok, we're fine. We're deep down and even without the machinery this room has air for several days. I'm sure they're working on whatever has happened right now and in any moment they're going to come get us! Yes, sir!”
As he rambled, not even stopping to ask WHAT had occurred he turned and was stopped as he looked at the cask. The ever quiet Salude was standing over the red device and interfacing with a complex electronic lock on its side via a strange device attached to his wrist that had been hidden under his lab scrubs. A series of digital beeps filled the room as the first set of snaps released from their metal casing causing Hawkings to move forward without thinking, “WHAT are you DOING Salud-”
In a blink the man had retrieved an advanced looking plastic pistol from inside his coat and placed a bullet straight through the Senior Members head. Without pause he turned the gun on the other tech Reicher who only had a few brief moments to cower before he dropped him with an accurate shot between the eyes. As if nothing had happened he returned to unlocking the cask while spinning the gun with his other hand and placing it back beneath his scrubs, “Riposa in pace mio fratelli terrena”, working even as he gave them a send off.
Then as they were forgotten to time the cask gave a shudder as some form of seal was broken and a cold mist blew out from the seams. Small internal electronics began to click as if on rotary gears and the lid pulled away to uncover a figure swathed in dark cloth beneath. Salude retrieved a blade from his wrist and began to cut through the cloth, the humanoid figure beneath it undergoing a dangerous but necessary quick-thaw from the cryo-stasis. Cleaving it down the middle Salude took each side of the fabric and ripped it open exposing the person beneath.
From somewhere far-off another set of dull thuds and shudders reached the room though it caused little more than some rumbling this time.
“Alrick Fleischer, I need you to wake up now.”
----------
Kain stood in front of the rubble that had once been the facilities main cafeteria. Thirty-seconds prior an incendiary device of some fashion had gone off during the mid-day rush, without even needing to hear it he knew the casualties would be in the hundreds, mostly scientist...though strangely there were few corpses to be found. Not that he was connected to them in any way, the giant of a man was a socio and psychopath through-and-through even if he wouldn't have identified himself as such. This was a man who had freely allowed Yager & Sun Co. to experiment and turn him into something wholly inhuman under the sole promise that it would give him more opportunities and strength to kill people. But that didn't mean he wasn't smart and he realized this was a set-back to the greater battles promised, though at least it would alleviate the tedium of today, that was worth something.
Four of The Fabled, not including himself, had survived and had already gone about securing the perimeter, there wasn't much else they could do stuck down here. He had expected an assault at first but when none came his tactile mind realized quickly it was just a diversion, the enemy knew the emergency response procedures and that much of their security would be moving in the directions of the multiple explosions he had felt. He didn't question that it was an attack, there was a distinct difference in both the “feel” of an accident versus a meaningful explosive attack both in actual concussion and in how it was tactically placed. The location and the existence of several blasts after that marked this as a definitive attack, Yager & Sun Co. might have toyed with ethics but they weren't fools, nothing they had on site would have resulted in such a large domino effect without outside help.
But the attackers had underestimated what they were up against. The fact that communications were down only further suggested outside influence but unfortunately for them there was a narrow-band radio in place at all times, the higher-ranking officers were never disconnected from one another. Kain was making contact with Jager when the rubble behind him shifted and he whipped his rifle around with one hand to point it at the discrepancy. However he lowered it as the rubble fell to the side and X whom had been deeper in the cafeteria at the time of the explosion stepped forth, holding the last member of The Fabled in his arms, confirming she was uninjured she was promptly placed on the ground.
Kain gave a somewhat approving nod, “Good work kid,” before turning around and continuing his paging of Jager. But when he finally got a hold of him it wasn't in the way they expected, instead of being concerned or flustered he already seemed to be quite settled on what had happened despite it only happening mere moments prior. Not that one ever expected Jager to be surprised or fearful, but even for him it came across as a little to well prepared. Kain even considered it might be his doing though he didn't see what would be gained, either way they already had a mission.”
“Kain, I've got work for you. We're under assault and the demolition blasts have released some of the items, but really it's all of minor concern. We'll be mopping up soon enough but we do have one serious concern. Just before the attack an unauthorized command was given to pull a Father-Level unit out of its stasis. If I know my war, and I do, the rest of this is all a diversion from this units extraction. I'm on the other end of the compound so I'm sending you in.”
A series of beeps and clicks indicated they were receiving data on the target. Each of them had a wrist-band that acted as an integrated datapad so they didn't have to carry a separate item that could be lost around. Like he had suggested the encoding took a moment to start giving them real data as he removed the codes that were keeping the highly classified document a secret.
“Your mission is simple, destroy it. Its usefulness to me is far outweighed by the cons of its escape. Ignore everything else, eliminate it..”
When the target finally appeared on the screen the group shared several looks back-and-forth with one another. Looking up from the screen was a carbon copy of Jager with no visible differences though the projected data next to him seemed to weak to be the same person, most appeared confused but Kain seemed to grasp the situation rather quickly. He gave a light chuckle as he thumbed through the data and lowered his suits mask to protect his face.
“So, let me ask, is this a-”
Cutting him off Jager said rather neutrally but with a hint of warning, “Do you really want to finish that question Kain?”
A long silence followed, “It's not that important I suppose.”
“No, it is not. Get moving, the rest is being handled, move to your objective.”
Jagers tone changed as did the direction of the microphone being used though everyone present could still hear him, “X, the target isn't at my level but should still be of significant strength if they've awoken it. You'll be taking the forward position in the mission, it should be a good gauge of your growth. Now if you'll all excuse me, there are other messes to be mopped up now.”
There was no official disconnect in communication but it was obvious they were through. As soon as they had confirmed the information they all fell into order save for X who didn't really have an order and began moving. In a normal army they'd have been more concerned with trying to help survivors but that was of minor concern here, most had died in the carefully planned explosion, and if any had survived there was a strange lack of pained voices or confused bodies.
Kain looked at the map and then signaled forward down the first of many hallways with a pointer finger, “Red, on-point till we're closer to the target. Keep your eyes open, no telling what might be between here and there, if they knew where to hit us for maximum casualties they might know more than that.”
Silently the small woman X had saved nodded, an artificial glowing red eye peering back at them from under a blood red hood attached to similarly colored armor. She might have been cute at one time but almost sixty-percent of her face was covered in an unmoving metal mask now and the rest though cloaked looked heavily burned. Turning back around she looked off into the darkness and in a blast of ethereal smoke disappeared from sight.
----------
It was no wonder Jager had ordered them to take the job if he was across the facility, this was not their normal home-base so they were unfamiliar with the topography. As it was the construct was even larger than it had appeared on the outside, they certainly needed the datapads or they would have been wandering for hours, no doubt this was as much for tactical positioning as actual usefulness. Despite its size though and the force that would be needed to mount it there was a strange lack of others either friendly or from the attacking force. Of course they were deep down but even so they ran into no more than three staff members and no hostile forces, a building this size couldn't possibly be run by such a small group, and if they had an objective important enough to attack why would the enemy not have infiltrated in the chaos?
It was as if everyone had just disappeared. The Fabled of course took note of this but for the time being could do little more than move toward their objective.
They remained rather quiet the whole way, none of them save Wolfen were what you would call extroverts but even he shut-up on missions. Kain sometimes felt that was wrong, when Jager had offered them their enhancements he had said it was free of strings like controlling their thoughts. Somewhere inside he thought he remembered everyone being more lively than this before, he sometimes wondered if maybe they were being controlled more than they thought, but when he started thinking about it to hard his brain got fuzzy and hurt...it was probably nothing, better to focus on the mission. That's what was important.
Having descended three sets of elevators and uncountable identical halls it was starting to feel as if they were getting nowhere. Then as they began to approach a corner Red appeared in a wreath of smoke with her back to the nearest wall while holding her hand out. Wolfen who had been ahead practically ran into her but can skidding to a stop just in time before leaning in near her, “What's up Red?”
She shot him a venomous look that wasn't so malicious as it screamed 'IDIOT!'. Moments later a quiet voice, like a child whispering through a paper sheet sounded out in their heads and from the way she was looking it was evident it was Red speaking telepathically...of course everyone present already knew that's how she communicated. When she did so she rarely spoke in full sentences, instead giving simple keywords that explained the situation in as concise a way as possible.
“Danger. Stay quiet. Stay still.”
Wolfen looked set to ask more questions but Torrah and Jack who had pulled up close to the corner by this point put a stop to it. Though they were deadly serious it was somewhat comical to see Jack with his hand over the other mans mouth while Torrah delivered a swift blow to his gut, then the entire team amusingly peered around the corner. Kain and Wyvern on the other hand were just sitting back, Kain because there wasn't much point in everyone taking point, and Wyvern...well.......she never really seemed to care, the fact that she was already leaning against the nearest wall and smoking being a key tip-off to this fact.
All of them were brought out of the rather pointless seeming stop when an overwhelming sense of dark, miasmatic, instinctive hate washed over them. Being as spiritually sensitive as they were they could detect fluctuations in the “feel” of reiatsu unlike their NWO counterparts and ascertain both its target and intent. Though nothing could be seen the hall was filled with the energy as whispers on the wind reached there ears and the sound of metal or something similar being dragged across a surface sounded out.
Glorious.
A great mass of death.
Glorious.
Glorious.
...What is this?
It is -
Life.
Life to death.
Glorious.
Instantly The Fabled began to ready their weapons as they felt the energy begin to focus on them without even making contact as they filtered out into the four-way and took defensive positions. Whatever it was came closer and closer, shadows that seemed entirely unnatural began to play alongside the opposite end of the hall from which the sounds echoed. Then just as something far larger was about to make its appearance all the lights along the hall exploded in a shower of sparks leaving it cloaked in darkness and now making no sound, even so it was obvious something was moving there. Kain was about to order them to unload everything they had when klaxon's sounded out, red-lights began to strobe, and then a gigantic metal door dropped down in front of the hall.
As the sirens went quiet the door had been closed for no less than two-seconds when something entirely to bulky to be human slammed into it, denting it in a full foot. Moments later the sound of automated gunfire echoed out from the other side, likely one of the many mechanical defense turrets in place. This was accompanied by frenzied inhuman cries followed by several half-hearted lashes at the door before it began to audibly retreat until the gunfire finally stopped.
A collective release of breath was given though several of them gave a good jump when their communicator came on without warning and Jager spoke, “It's moved on. Continue with your objective, you aren't far now.”
Despite arguing Kain and the rest felt a compulsion to keep moving even while he spoke, his body at odds with his mind though he did not mentally recognize it. “What in the world was that?”
There was a long pause as Jager probably wondered if he should even answer, in the end he obliged, “Like I said your target wasn't the only thing released in the assault. Whether it was purposeful to cover their true intent or they just released whatever they could the fact remains we have widespread quarantine breaks. Most of them won't be difficult to deal with, just keep your head about you. I've locked off the eastern part of your sector but if the Glorious somehow finds you again be ready, it's about my strength level so you should be able to-”
“You could kill us.” Kain mumbled begrudgingly.
Jager paused for a second as if in thought before concluding jovially, “Oh! Well, guess you should probably avoid it then ~~~Haha!”
Again without warning Jager simply cut the communications link and The Fabled were once more left to their own devices. Thankfully though they had no further run-ins with the thing or any similar ilk, just more strange emptiness. True to his word they only had to take a single elevator down before the entered some form of containment center, normally there would have been security check-points but like everywhere else it was now empty and whatever automated machines might have been in placed had likely been deactivated by Jager. Entering a large open room Kain was pulling the map up once more when an unfitting civilian elevator 'ding' punctuated the silent room.
There were many doors in the large room but it was the central door at the furthest end that opened first, and standing behind it were two men, one of them was Jager. Or at least he looked like Jager. But the way he moved, the facial expressions he gave in those split few seconds, the very feel of his reiatsu...everything was off. It only took a moment for both sides to overcome the surprise of so suddenly coming face to face, everyone seeking cover as quickly as possible save the Jager look-alike who stood dumbly frozen in the middle of the room as bullets started flying.
They had found their target at least...though who knew what they had really found?
“Item #39-C on todays agenda. Item showcases no further growth in any spectrum. By study article #21109 of the Research Charter this deems the item an inefficient drain on company assets and makes it suggested for deletion via incineration. Due to lacking mental inhibitors item will remain in stasis until such a time if so voted, item requires votes of one senior member and two overseeing techs. I as the senior member invoke a motion for vote, what say you?”
“Aye.”
“Aye.”
“Aye. Motion is accepted. Senior Member Hawkings and Techs Reicher, and Salude are on hand via unanimous vote. Item #39-C will be moved to storage until a date of destruction can be appointed.”
The three men standing around the table in white plastic suits and air rebreathers went about their work mechanically. All of them were fully aware that each “item” was a human life but they alloted them for further experiment or “deletion” with all the emotion of robots. As they stood around the table checking off on hand-held digital boards the arm came down, retrieved the cask, inserted it into the far wall, the room seemed to rotate again, and another was pulled out before being placed in front of them in the same fashion.
“Item #40-C on todays agenda. Item showcases no further growth in any spectrum. By study a-”
Like an automated process work continued with almost no variation through the rest of the day save for the occasional item that was OK'd for progress into one of the main projects. In that event they altered the process by making a call to a Senior Science Officer for an additional positive vote, joyous variety!It would stay like this for many hours still and dozens of votes, none requiring actual thought, all would have been just as effective if performed automatically, ruled by an ingrain set of rules with no margin for difference. But then of course, that was the point.
Senior Member Hawkings was standing in the middle of the room as the arm carried another cask out of the room. In between the transportation of items he momentarily removed his rebreather and pulled a sterilized water flask from his belt before turning to look at the list in his hand. As he replaced the flask on his belt his visible face scrunched up as the next item took several minutes to arrive, this was of concern as at longest it took thirty-seconds on the norm. Of course there were inconsistencies but because the operation was largely mechanical they were few and far between, given that the next item was of low level import it seemed likely something had gotten locked up in the chute.
Just as Hawkings was moving to the communications panel to alert the program to the issue the room began to spin and a chute opened. Satisfied he backed off and pulled the mask back over his face, grabbing the board and scanning for the proper article.
“Item #67-C on todays agenda. Item showcases no...further...”
Trailing off as the cask was retrieved and placed in the middle of the room nobody knew how to respond immediately. Instead of a white ovular shaft with an opaque window to view the item inside this was instead a pure red rectangle with complex electronic read-outs all along its body, equally there were no obvious viewing ports to what was inside. None of them had ever seen a container of this nature but the “E” identifier in the number on its side combined with the restrictive nature of the device marked it as a high-ranking project, not something that would be sent to the disposal without prior warning, it also didn't match the supposed item on the list.
After getting over the initial confusion Hawkings approached the container and copied the number on its side to his datapad, clearly performing a search as he spoke absentmindedly, “No matches on the main server. Oh dear, if I wind up filling out paperwork for the next ten days because those fools upstairs sent this to the wrong place I'll....” he trailed off into a sigh.
“Reicher get into contact with command and tell them what we have here...there goes our lunc-”
The room rocked with unexpected and incredible fury as far off a dull thud sounded off, given the thickness of the walls surrounding them the actual site of the sound must have been catastrophically concussive. Warning alarms went off but were quickly cut off as the room lurched once more and seemed to drop a few feet from whatever space it was mored, hitting with a slam and rolling to its side for a bit before coming to a stop though thanks to its shape the casks location was the only real identifier that the rooms angle had changed at all. It was also now incredibly quiet, the machinery that kept the room in motion being promptly deprived of the electricity that had made it such a noise factory before.
Hawkings moved to the nearest console as quickly as possible but from everywhere in the room the flashing red symbols showed it had been disconnected. Regardless he began to rapidly tap on the keys as he called out trying to scan the channels for a connection but all that came back across the rooms speakers was static. After a few moments he began to back off and talk in a rapid tone his intelligence clearly at war with his timid nature when you took him out of his comfort zone, “Alright then, ok, we're fine. We're deep down and even without the machinery this room has air for several days. I'm sure they're working on whatever has happened right now and in any moment they're going to come get us! Yes, sir!”
As he rambled, not even stopping to ask WHAT had occurred he turned and was stopped as he looked at the cask. The ever quiet Salude was standing over the red device and interfacing with a complex electronic lock on its side via a strange device attached to his wrist that had been hidden under his lab scrubs. A series of digital beeps filled the room as the first set of snaps released from their metal casing causing Hawkings to move forward without thinking, “WHAT are you DOING Salud-”
In a blink the man had retrieved an advanced looking plastic pistol from inside his coat and placed a bullet straight through the Senior Members head. Without pause he turned the gun on the other tech Reicher who only had a few brief moments to cower before he dropped him with an accurate shot between the eyes. As if nothing had happened he returned to unlocking the cask while spinning the gun with his other hand and placing it back beneath his scrubs, “Riposa in pace mio fratelli terrena”, working even as he gave them a send off.
Then as they were forgotten to time the cask gave a shudder as some form of seal was broken and a cold mist blew out from the seams. Small internal electronics began to click as if on rotary gears and the lid pulled away to uncover a figure swathed in dark cloth beneath. Salude retrieved a blade from his wrist and began to cut through the cloth, the humanoid figure beneath it undergoing a dangerous but necessary quick-thaw from the cryo-stasis. Cleaving it down the middle Salude took each side of the fabric and ripped it open exposing the person beneath.
From somewhere far-off another set of dull thuds and shudders reached the room though it caused little more than some rumbling this time.
“Alrick Fleischer, I need you to wake up now.”
----------
Kain stood in front of the rubble that had once been the facilities main cafeteria. Thirty-seconds prior an incendiary device of some fashion had gone off during the mid-day rush, without even needing to hear it he knew the casualties would be in the hundreds, mostly scientist...though strangely there were few corpses to be found. Not that he was connected to them in any way, the giant of a man was a socio and psychopath through-and-through even if he wouldn't have identified himself as such. This was a man who had freely allowed Yager & Sun Co. to experiment and turn him into something wholly inhuman under the sole promise that it would give him more opportunities and strength to kill people. But that didn't mean he wasn't smart and he realized this was a set-back to the greater battles promised, though at least it would alleviate the tedium of today, that was worth something.
Four of The Fabled, not including himself, had survived and had already gone about securing the perimeter, there wasn't much else they could do stuck down here. He had expected an assault at first but when none came his tactile mind realized quickly it was just a diversion, the enemy knew the emergency response procedures and that much of their security would be moving in the directions of the multiple explosions he had felt. He didn't question that it was an attack, there was a distinct difference in both the “feel” of an accident versus a meaningful explosive attack both in actual concussion and in how it was tactically placed. The location and the existence of several blasts after that marked this as a definitive attack, Yager & Sun Co. might have toyed with ethics but they weren't fools, nothing they had on site would have resulted in such a large domino effect without outside help.
But the attackers had underestimated what they were up against. The fact that communications were down only further suggested outside influence but unfortunately for them there was a narrow-band radio in place at all times, the higher-ranking officers were never disconnected from one another. Kain was making contact with Jager when the rubble behind him shifted and he whipped his rifle around with one hand to point it at the discrepancy. However he lowered it as the rubble fell to the side and X whom had been deeper in the cafeteria at the time of the explosion stepped forth, holding the last member of The Fabled in his arms, confirming she was uninjured she was promptly placed on the ground.
Kain gave a somewhat approving nod, “Good work kid,” before turning around and continuing his paging of Jager. But when he finally got a hold of him it wasn't in the way they expected, instead of being concerned or flustered he already seemed to be quite settled on what had happened despite it only happening mere moments prior. Not that one ever expected Jager to be surprised or fearful, but even for him it came across as a little to well prepared. Kain even considered it might be his doing though he didn't see what would be gained, either way they already had a mission.”
“Kain, I've got work for you. We're under assault and the demolition blasts have released some of the items, but really it's all of minor concern. We'll be mopping up soon enough but we do have one serious concern. Just before the attack an unauthorized command was given to pull a Father-Level unit out of its stasis. If I know my war, and I do, the rest of this is all a diversion from this units extraction. I'm on the other end of the compound so I'm sending you in.”
A series of beeps and clicks indicated they were receiving data on the target. Each of them had a wrist-band that acted as an integrated datapad so they didn't have to carry a separate item that could be lost around. Like he had suggested the encoding took a moment to start giving them real data as he removed the codes that were keeping the highly classified document a secret.
“Your mission is simple, destroy it. Its usefulness to me is far outweighed by the cons of its escape. Ignore everything else, eliminate it..”
When the target finally appeared on the screen the group shared several looks back-and-forth with one another. Looking up from the screen was a carbon copy of Jager with no visible differences though the projected data next to him seemed to weak to be the same person, most appeared confused but Kain seemed to grasp the situation rather quickly. He gave a light chuckle as he thumbed through the data and lowered his suits mask to protect his face.
“So, let me ask, is this a-”
Cutting him off Jager said rather neutrally but with a hint of warning, “Do you really want to finish that question Kain?”
A long silence followed, “It's not that important I suppose.”
“No, it is not. Get moving, the rest is being handled, move to your objective.”
Jagers tone changed as did the direction of the microphone being used though everyone present could still hear him, “X, the target isn't at my level but should still be of significant strength if they've awoken it. You'll be taking the forward position in the mission, it should be a good gauge of your growth. Now if you'll all excuse me, there are other messes to be mopped up now.”
There was no official disconnect in communication but it was obvious they were through. As soon as they had confirmed the information they all fell into order save for X who didn't really have an order and began moving. In a normal army they'd have been more concerned with trying to help survivors but that was of minor concern here, most had died in the carefully planned explosion, and if any had survived there was a strange lack of pained voices or confused bodies.
Kain looked at the map and then signaled forward down the first of many hallways with a pointer finger, “Red, on-point till we're closer to the target. Keep your eyes open, no telling what might be between here and there, if they knew where to hit us for maximum casualties they might know more than that.”
Silently the small woman X had saved nodded, an artificial glowing red eye peering back at them from under a blood red hood attached to similarly colored armor. She might have been cute at one time but almost sixty-percent of her face was covered in an unmoving metal mask now and the rest though cloaked looked heavily burned. Turning back around she looked off into the darkness and in a blast of ethereal smoke disappeared from sight.
----------
It was no wonder Jager had ordered them to take the job if he was across the facility, this was not their normal home-base so they were unfamiliar with the topography. As it was the construct was even larger than it had appeared on the outside, they certainly needed the datapads or they would have been wandering for hours, no doubt this was as much for tactical positioning as actual usefulness. Despite its size though and the force that would be needed to mount it there was a strange lack of others either friendly or from the attacking force. Of course they were deep down but even so they ran into no more than three staff members and no hostile forces, a building this size couldn't possibly be run by such a small group, and if they had an objective important enough to attack why would the enemy not have infiltrated in the chaos?
It was as if everyone had just disappeared. The Fabled of course took note of this but for the time being could do little more than move toward their objective.
They remained rather quiet the whole way, none of them save Wolfen were what you would call extroverts but even he shut-up on missions. Kain sometimes felt that was wrong, when Jager had offered them their enhancements he had said it was free of strings like controlling their thoughts. Somewhere inside he thought he remembered everyone being more lively than this before, he sometimes wondered if maybe they were being controlled more than they thought, but when he started thinking about it to hard his brain got fuzzy and hurt...it was probably nothing, better to focus on the mission. That's what was important.
Having descended three sets of elevators and uncountable identical halls it was starting to feel as if they were getting nowhere. Then as they began to approach a corner Red appeared in a wreath of smoke with her back to the nearest wall while holding her hand out. Wolfen who had been ahead practically ran into her but can skidding to a stop just in time before leaning in near her, “What's up Red?”
She shot him a venomous look that wasn't so malicious as it screamed 'IDIOT!'. Moments later a quiet voice, like a child whispering through a paper sheet sounded out in their heads and from the way she was looking it was evident it was Red speaking telepathically...of course everyone present already knew that's how she communicated. When she did so she rarely spoke in full sentences, instead giving simple keywords that explained the situation in as concise a way as possible.
“Danger. Stay quiet. Stay still.”
Wolfen looked set to ask more questions but Torrah and Jack who had pulled up close to the corner by this point put a stop to it. Though they were deadly serious it was somewhat comical to see Jack with his hand over the other mans mouth while Torrah delivered a swift blow to his gut, then the entire team amusingly peered around the corner. Kain and Wyvern on the other hand were just sitting back, Kain because there wasn't much point in everyone taking point, and Wyvern...well.......she never really seemed to care, the fact that she was already leaning against the nearest wall and smoking being a key tip-off to this fact.
All of them were brought out of the rather pointless seeming stop when an overwhelming sense of dark, miasmatic, instinctive hate washed over them. Being as spiritually sensitive as they were they could detect fluctuations in the “feel” of reiatsu unlike their NWO counterparts and ascertain both its target and intent. Though nothing could be seen the hall was filled with the energy as whispers on the wind reached there ears and the sound of metal or something similar being dragged across a surface sounded out.
Glorious.
A great mass of death.
Glorious.
Glorious.
...What is this?
It is -
Life.
Life to death.
Glorious.
Instantly The Fabled began to ready their weapons as they felt the energy begin to focus on them without even making contact as they filtered out into the four-way and took defensive positions. Whatever it was came closer and closer, shadows that seemed entirely unnatural began to play alongside the opposite end of the hall from which the sounds echoed. Then just as something far larger was about to make its appearance all the lights along the hall exploded in a shower of sparks leaving it cloaked in darkness and now making no sound, even so it was obvious something was moving there. Kain was about to order them to unload everything they had when klaxon's sounded out, red-lights began to strobe, and then a gigantic metal door dropped down in front of the hall.
As the sirens went quiet the door had been closed for no less than two-seconds when something entirely to bulky to be human slammed into it, denting it in a full foot. Moments later the sound of automated gunfire echoed out from the other side, likely one of the many mechanical defense turrets in place. This was accompanied by frenzied inhuman cries followed by several half-hearted lashes at the door before it began to audibly retreat until the gunfire finally stopped.
A collective release of breath was given though several of them gave a good jump when their communicator came on without warning and Jager spoke, “It's moved on. Continue with your objective, you aren't far now.”
Despite arguing Kain and the rest felt a compulsion to keep moving even while he spoke, his body at odds with his mind though he did not mentally recognize it. “What in the world was that?”
There was a long pause as Jager probably wondered if he should even answer, in the end he obliged, “Like I said your target wasn't the only thing released in the assault. Whether it was purposeful to cover their true intent or they just released whatever they could the fact remains we have widespread quarantine breaks. Most of them won't be difficult to deal with, just keep your head about you. I've locked off the eastern part of your sector but if the Glorious somehow finds you again be ready, it's about my strength level so you should be able to-”
“You could kill us.” Kain mumbled begrudgingly.
Jager paused for a second as if in thought before concluding jovially, “Oh! Well, guess you should probably avoid it then ~~~Haha!”
Again without warning Jager simply cut the communications link and The Fabled were once more left to their own devices. Thankfully though they had no further run-ins with the thing or any similar ilk, just more strange emptiness. True to his word they only had to take a single elevator down before the entered some form of containment center, normally there would have been security check-points but like everywhere else it was now empty and whatever automated machines might have been in placed had likely been deactivated by Jager. Entering a large open room Kain was pulling the map up once more when an unfitting civilian elevator 'ding' punctuated the silent room.
There were many doors in the large room but it was the central door at the furthest end that opened first, and standing behind it were two men, one of them was Jager. Or at least he looked like Jager. But the way he moved, the facial expressions he gave in those split few seconds, the very feel of his reiatsu...everything was off. It only took a moment for both sides to overcome the surprise of so suddenly coming face to face, everyone seeking cover as quickly as possible save the Jager look-alike who stood dumbly frozen in the middle of the room as bullets started flying.
They had found their target at least...though who knew what they had really found?